California Laws for Evicting Tenants
-
Tenants in California have some eviction protection under state law, as well as local laws in some cities and counties. This page describes protection under California`s COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act and the COVID-19 Rental Housing Recovery Act. Until September 30, 2021, these laws protect tenants with covid-19-related financial impacts from eviction due to non-payment of rent if the tenant submits a signed declaration of financial distress to the landlord. As of October 1, 2021, the law requires any landlord who wishes to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent to first apply for rent assistance before proceeding with eviction. However, depending on your particular situation and place of residence, you may have other eviction protections that apply to you. If you receive an eviction notice from your landlord, you should talk to a lawyer as soon as possible to find out what rules apply to your particular situation. Rent assistance is available to eligible tenants who are in financial difficulty and unable to pay some or all of the rent. If no notice is required, landlords can bring an eviction action directly with the court without written notice to tenants. 1. For amounts due before September 1, the notice you received will give you 3 weeks (15 hearing days) to send the signed statement by mail or otherwise. You do not have to pay anything as a condition or provide proof that you are unable to repay this amount. If you sign, you cannot be evicted for non-payment of this amount, but the landlord can instead file a small claim against you.
If you do not sign and submit the declaration within the 21-day period, the landlord MAY begin the eviction. To benefit from the assistance, tenants must, under penalty of perjury, declare that they are financially affected by the pandemic and earn less than 80% of the region`s median income. You may have received a “15-day” eviction notice with a declaration to sign and you need to know what to do. In panic, it is tempting to take the bait, which promises to avoid expulsion, but it has a major drawback. Here are the simple explanations of the new state and federal laws and Civil Code 1511. In August 2021, the CDC issued an order protecting tenants in counties where COVID-19 has been “significantly or severely transmitted in the community.” According to the order, a tenant who makes a declaration cannot be evicted for non-payment of rent. These new laws stipulate that by signing the declaration, you will not be expelled for non-payment. Instead, the landlord can get an important judgment against you in small claims court.
AB 3088 expanded small claims court to cover all of the landlord`s rental claims, regardless of their amount. This makes it easy and inexpensive for the owner to win against you to get that verdict. This will ruin your loan, allow the owner to take your car, bank account, household furniture and other personal belongings, and grab your 25% salary. A few months after signing the declaration, you think you are “out of the pot” and you will find yourself “in the fire”. On June 28, 2021, the Governor signed a bill extending the guarantees of AB 3088 and SB 91 until September 30, 2021 and containing additional guarantees. The period during which landlords are not allowed to evict tenants for non-payment of rent if those tenants have submitted a COVID-19 financial distress report to their landlord within 15 days of giving notice of termination has been extended to September 30, 2021. For terminations based on rent due between September 1, 2020 and the new coverage end date, September 30, 2021, the time required by tenants to pay the required 25% of the total amount of rent due has been extended to September 30, 2021. The provisions of the Rent Assistance Program have been expanded to provide that 100% of the amounts owed to the landlord are paid for eligible tenants. For more than a year, the Governor and the Legislative Assembly have been working together to pass several laws for tenants in financial difficulty related to COVID-19.
Due to the ongoing pandemic and the significant impact it continues to have on the economy, the Legislative Assembly and the Governor have passed signed laws that expand and expand essential protection and also establish a national rent assistance program. Many legal aid and housing organizations can help them provide other resources to take with you to court. There are also self-help centers that help tenants fill out forms, as well as free mediation programs at some courthouses, according to Alexander Harden, a law enforcement attorney at the Inner City Law Center in Los Angeles. .