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NOTICES A LANDLORD MAY SERVE
There are
several kinds of not ices that a landlord
can serve: 
1) a
3-day eviction notice
(to perform/pay or quit),
2) a
30-day eviction notice
(by either tenant or Landlord to terminate tenancy),
3)
60 day notice
(for no-fault evictions per California Civil Code 1946.1),
4)
120 day notice
(for evictions due to demolition or removal from rental
market
per
California Government Code Section 7060).
If a
tenant fails to respond to any of the above notices, a landlord can
bring a
suit to
evict a tenant from the premises. The name of this suit is an
UNLAWFUL
DETAINER.
3-DAY
NOTICE
If the
tenant has failed to pay the rent on time or is short in any amount,
the
landlord
must send the tenant a written 3-day notice to pay rent or quit the
premises.
This notice must state precisely the premises in question and the
amount of
rent due. The new law also
states that the 3 day notice must include
instructions
on how to pay the rent: address, person, the time the owner can
receive
the rent and the accepted form of payment (check, money order,
etc.).
The notice
must also present an unequivocal alternative to the tenant, i.e.,
pay
rent
within three days or leave. In situations where some other
obligation has
been
breached, e.g., keeping pets, the landlord must specify the fault
and
permit its
correction within 3 days. The landlord must serve this notice on the
tenant
before he can bring suit (unless the tenant's default is of a kind
that
could not
possibly be corrected within the allowed time, for example, he has
done
something to the building which cannot be
repaired.)
A 3-Day
Notice expires at midnight of the third day after service, provided
that
the third
day is a business day. Otherwise it expires at midnight of the first
business
day following the third day after service. You do not count the day
of
service.
Therefore, a 3-Day Notice served on a Friday will expire at midnight
on the
following Monday (unless that Monday is a holiday, in which case the
notice
will expire at midnight on Tuesday). A 3-Day Notice served on
Wednesday
will also expire at midnight on the following Monday, because the
third day
may not be a Saturday or Sunday.
3-Day
Notice to Pay Rent Or Quit is not valid if served before the rent is
delinquent. Therefore, it
may not be served on the due date, only after the due
date. If
the due date does not fall on a business day, then the rent is not
due
until the
first business day following the due date and a 3-day Notice to Pay
Rent Or
Quit may not be served until the day after that. If the obligation
demanded
has not been corrected within three days after the notice was
served,
the landlord can then file suit in court to have the tenant
evicted.
30-DAY
NOTICE
Pursuant
to California Civil Code Section 1946 any month/month tenancy can
be
terminated by a 30 day written notice by
either the tenant or the landlord (if
the tenant
has resided in the unit for less than 1 year) and if the eviction is
for
owner
occupation for a condominium and given by the new owner no more
than 30
days from acquiring the property.
(See
additional requirements California Civil code
1946.1.e)
Except for
the City of Los Angeles, a landlord may serve this notice and end
the
tenancy for almost any reason or no reason at all. When the 30 days
expires,
the landlord may sue. A tenant should examine a written rental
agreement
to see if a special clause permits the landlord to shorten the time
of
this
notice to 7 or 14 days.
60-DAY
NOTICE
If, on the
other hand, the tenant has occupied the unit for at least 1
year and
the
landlord simply wants to end the tenancy even though the tenant has
not
done
anything illegal, a different notice is required. This is called a
"sixty-day
notice".
(Amended from 30 days by
California Civil Code 1946.1 effective
1/1/02
to apply to no-fault evictions).
It must be
in writing and state that as of 60 days from the date the notice is
served the
tenancy will be at an end. In the City of Los Angeles, a landlord
must meet
one of the twelve legal reasons for eviction pursuant to the Rent
Stabilization Ordinance,
Section 151.09. (See above) Also, in the City of Los
Angeles,
no written agreement may contain provisions that are in violation of
the
RSO.
Generally,
a lease relationship cannot be ended by a 30-Day Notice or 60-Day
Notice
before the expiration date of the lease. A tenant, though, may be
given
a 30 or 60
Day Notice if he "holds over" after a lease has
expired.
120-DAY
NOTICE
A landlord
evicting for the purpose of demolition or removing the unit from the
rental
market must follow the procedures as indicated in Ordinance 173, 868
(Eff. 4/5/2001). Obtain the
proper Landlord Declaration form from the
Department. Record with the
County Recorder the Non-Confidential
Memorandum
and once recorded submit it along with the landlord declaration
with three
copies of the same. Within 5 days of submitting the completed
Landlord
Declaration and the recorded Non-Confidential Memorandum the
landlord
shall give the tenants 120 day notice and include additional
information as mandated in
Ordinance 173,868. Tenants who are at least 62
years of
age or disabled and who have lived in the accommodations for at
least one
year prior to submitting the Landlord Declaration may request an
extension
of up to 1 year. (See
Ordinance 173,868).
UNLAWFUL
DETAINER
An
Unlawful Detainer is the legal name of the suit a landlord brings to
evict a
tenant
from the premises. There are several possible grounds for such an
eviction
action. One is that the tenant has failed to abide by some
obligation in
his lease
or rental agreement with the landlord, for example, by creating a
nuisance,
damaging the premises, or keeping pets. Another is that the tenant
has failed
to pay the rent on time. A third possibility arises when the tenant
remains on
the premises after having been given lawful notice to terminate the
tenancy.
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