HOW NOT TO GET EVICTED

Having served the Eastern Sierra community since 1967, California Indian Legal Services (CILS) is the oldest not-for-profit law firm in the country that specializes in Federal Indian Law. But the organization also extends its services individuals in the region who income-qualify. 

On Saturday afternoon, November 4, in Mammoth Lakes Library, representatives from CILS, Rachel Leiterman, esq. and Erin Rubin, esq., offered a crash course on all things related to tenant rights.

What follows are the CliffsNotes:

Eviction Process, Explained:

“A 3-day eviction notice,” Leiterman admitted, “can be terrifying … But the police are not just going to come and lock you out of your house. It’s a process.”

Leiterman broke it down.

According to the attorney, the process begins with a notice. Tenants might receive a 60-day notice, warning that their tenancy is being terminated, even though they’ve done nothing wrong.  The landlord is at liberty to issue this notice for any reason. The landlord is, however, permitted to issue a 3-day notice in the event that a tenant is breaking the lease agreement, or is past due on their rent. 

“Once the notice period has ended, then your landlord can file an eviction lawsuit. In the law, it’s called unlawful detainer, and you’ll get a big packet of papers that are served to you by a person—that’s the start of the lawsuit. And it happens very, very quickly,” said Leiterman. 

The process is designed to avoid lengthy litigation, so that landlords aren’t subject to the financial burden of a tenant not paying rent for longer than is necessary.

“So for you tenants,” Leiterman cautioned, “that means you’ve got to be on it. If you get that kind of notice … and then you’re served with  an eviction lawsuit, you answer that lawsuit. You call our office.”

If the tenant wins that eviction lawsuit, they are permitted to continue their tenancy.  If they lose,  the landlord can take that judgment to the sheriff, at which point the sheriff will create a writ of execution—that’s the slip of paper, posted to the property’s door, which warns the tenant that they will be physically removed, and that the property’s locks will be changed.

“This whole process, at its absolute shortest, might be 4-6 weeks,” said Leiterman. “When you get that notice, act on it. But no one will come knocking at the expiration of 3 days.”

Tenant Protection Act:

The Tenant Protection Act of 2019—which actually took effect on the 1st of the following year—safeguards a majority of California renters. The act both guarantees statewide rent  control, and mandates just cause requirements in cases of eviction.

“There are different facets to the law,” said Leiterman. “The big one is that your landlord cannot raise your rent, generally, more than 10% per year.”

Additionally, as explained by Leiterman, Landlords cannot raise tenants’ rent more than twice in a twelve-month period, and even the total of those two rent hikes cannot amount to more than the 10% cap. Moreover, stipulations of the act prohibit termination without just cause for a tenant who has lived in the unit for a period of at least 12 months.

“And,” said Leiterman, “that reason has to be defined under the law.”

Carve-Outs of The 

Tenant Protection Act:

“The Tenant Protection Act is a great law. It’s very helpful for tenants,” said Leiterman, “but it does not apply universally.”

The lawyer described those carve-outs of the act, most commonly encountered at CILS. 

“The big one is for single-family homes and condos. They are not covered by the Tenant Protection Act. If you rent a room in a single-family home, you do not get protections of the Tenant Protection Act.”

Leiterman explained that if you are leasing a unit in an apartment building, you are entitled to the aforementioned protections. Moreover, if you are a recipient of these protections, in good  standing, and your landlord moves to evict you, as a tenant,  you are entitled to relocation assistance. Often, this means one month of rent is waived by the landlord overseeing that tenancy.

Paul McFarland, a community member present at Saturday’s meeting, asked Leiterman a question regarding accessory dwelling unit (ADU) protection under the Tenancy Protection Act.

“In the case of ADUs,” Leiterman responded, “if a property has more than one dwelling unit on it, it’s not considered a single-family home anymore. So it does receive protections  from  the Tenant Protection Act.” 

Habitability:

Rubin continued the discussion with rights pertaining to a unit’s habitability.

According to the attorney, rental assistance and tenant protections issued by the government are designed to ensure residents are not living in units deemed unfit for human habitation.

She explained: “Your landlord is required to provide doors and windows that lock and are not broken. They are required to provide plumbing, clean, hot water, and enough trash receptacles so that garbage isn’t collecting in your home.”

While landlords are not required to provide aesthetically pleasing spaces for their tenants, they are required to abide by health and safety codes. 

If they refuse to provide a habitable space, Rubin explained that tenants may declare themselves constructively evicted.

“That’s essentially saying ‘You have not provided me with a safe home, so I have been evicted from my home.’”

Speaking of landlord behavior, landlords are expected to abide by a so-called “covenant of quiet enjoyment,” which forbids harassment and unlawful ingress.

“If they want to enter your home, unless it’s an emergency situation, they need to provide you with written notice, 24 hours in advance, and it has to be during regular hours,” said Rubin. “They can’t show up at 8 a.m. on a Friday and ask to  check on the plumbing. Nope. It’s your home. You’re paying for it.” 

Security Deposit Return:

Rubin continued on the topic of security deposit retrieval.

According to Rubin, landlords are only permitted to charge prospective tenants an amount up to two months of expected rent. And so long as the unit is left in the condition in which it was found—with moderate ‘wear and tear’ being expected—you are entitled to the return of the full security deposit. 

“And then at the end of [your] tenancy, [the landlord] has three weeks to get the security deposit back. If they do not return the full deposit, they need to give you an itemized list of what they spent the money on,” said Rubin

Further, if a landlord does not return the security deposit with itemized deductions within three weeks, they are then subject to a penalty that is twice the security deposit. 

“So,” offered Rubin, “if you gave a $2,000 security deposit and four weeks after you move out,  you still don’t have it back, they owe you an extra $4,000. And there’s no carve-out for that.”

The Fair Housing Act:

Back to Leiterman.

“Your landlord is required to accommodate disabilities, as long as it’s not financially or administratively burdensome to the landlord.”

Reasonable accommodations might pertain to those with significant mental, cognitive, or physical disabilities.

“Service animals is another frequent thing that comes up. An ADA-qualified service animal—such as seeing eye dogs or dogs that detect an insulin crisis in a diabetic person—those are reasonable accommodations. Emotional support animals, not so much. They do not need to be accommodated,” said Leiterman.

The Mobilehome Residency Law:

“The Mobilehome Residency Law is a very long and complicated law that our office deals with on a not-infrequent basis, because there are a number of mobile home parks in the three counties,” said Rubin.

The Mobilehome Residency Law, found in Section 798 et seq. of the Civil Code, establishes the rights and responsibilities of the landlord-tenant relationship conceived by a mobilehome unit, as well as the responsibilities of the park’s management.

“One big thing that’s come up is the right to organize,” said Rubin. “If you live in a mobile home park, you have the right to form a Tenant Rights Association to advocate for yourselves, and to negotiate with the property manager.”

Rubin explained that in the case of a prospective rule change within a mobilehome park, tenants have a right to participate in managerial discussions surrounding that rule change, and must agree to that change if it is to be implemented within 6 months.  

Providing protections similar to the Tenant Protection Act, the Mobilehome Residency Law requires a 60-day notice of eviction, absent of just-cause. The law also requires a 90-day notice of rent increase.

CILS Resources:

“It’s quite complicated,”  Rubin admitted, “and as [Leiterman] said, it’s case by case. So just give us a call.”

Visit https://www.calindian.org/cils-principal-office/ to contact any of the organization’s 5 departments across the region.