landlord-tenant

It happens to even the best landlords. For whatever reason certain tenants stop paying rent or get impossibly behind in their rent. This post outlines steps for such a landlord to legally regain possession of their property. Update or create the rent ledger While easy to overlook, the first thing a landlord should do is…

As covered in the previous post, if the summons and complaint are answered then the landlord cannot prevail without a show cause hearing (for residential tenancies) or trial.  The show cause hearing is set by the motion of the landlord.  The court then will issue an order for the tenant to appear and show cause…

Once a landlord knows that his tenant is in unlawful detainer he may start the lawsuit.  The lawsuit begins by serving at least two documents on the tenant, the summons and the complaint. The summons is a formal document that provides notice to the tenant that his landlord is bringing a lawsuit to evict him,…

Before a landlord files an action for unlawful detainer (eviction), the tenant must be in a state of unlawful detainer first.  Otherwise the landlord risks not only having his action dismissed by the court but also having to pay the tenant’s attorney’s fees. In most cases, a written notice must be served on the tenant…

The legal action for a landlord to recover their property from a tenant is called unlawful detainer.  In layman’s terms it is an eviction.  This is the introductory post for a three part series outlining the process. Unlawful detainer is a special expedited legal process.  Unlike most lawsuits, a contested unlawful detainer matter can be…