Unlawful Detainer/Evictions: The Three (3) Day Notice, The Landlord's Concerns

A Three (3) Day Notice is required to initiate a Unlawful Detainer (Eviction) action as described in California Civil Code Section 1161, including:

• tenant's failure to pay rent;
• tenant's failure to abide by the lease terms;
• nuisance by the tenant;
• waste by the tenant;
• unlawful use of the property by the tenant; and
• the property has been sold pursuant to a sale under execution, mortgage or trust deed.

Depending on what acts or omissions the tenant has committed, a 3-Day Notice to Pay or Quit, and a 3-Day Notice to Cure or Quit (also may be termed something like-3-Day Notice to Perform Covenants or Quit) may be served on the tenant together. For example, if the tenant has failed to pay rent and is committing a nuisance on the property, both notices may be proper.

The landlord must take care when filling out the required information on the notice(s). If the notice is incomplete, incorrect or contains extra information or allegations that are not allowed by law, then the notice may be defective. A defective notice may cause the landlord to lose his unlawful detainer case.

Examples of defects/issues that the landlord should be aware of include:

• not stating the name of the actual tenants;
• not identifying the address/property;
• failure to state the exact amount of rent owed (or a reasonable calculation/approximation as may be allowed by law);
• overstating the amount (including claims for unpaid utilities, late fees, interest, etc.)
• including a claim of rent beyond a years time;
• failure to state that the tenant has 3 days to pay the amount at a particular day and time or the tenant must move out;
• say what the tenant did or failed to do to break the lease and alternatively state that the tenant has 3 days to fix the problem or move out;
• and simply sign and date the notice.

Landlords should carefully review the terms of the lease. For example, some leases might specify that a late fee is deemed to be "rent" under the lease, thereby creating the potential to claim the late fee as part of the rent owed in a 3-Day Notice to Pay or Quit.

Bustarde Law can help analyze your situation with your tenant to determine the correct notices to serve, the correct information to provide, and the correct procedure to serve the notices and thereafter file an eviction action. Oftentimes, an attempt to evict someone is delayed or fails unnecessarily because the notice contained a seemingly minor discrepancy.

An eviction action is a complicated process based on specific statutory requirements. The foundation of the action is the notice. If the notice is defective then the action will likely be too.

The California Court system provides a helpful website containing general information (including that summarized above) concerning unlawful detainer actions on its website, click here. Also, Mr. Bustarde offers extremely reasonable hourly and flat rate fees to help landlords, especially non-professional landlords, evict tenants to make their properties money generating resources again.