A recent Los Angeles case reaffirms that a person who files a demand for a jury trial in an unlawful detainer (eviction) action is entitled to a trial by jury even if that person filed a fee waiver. Elva Silva’s landlord filed an unlawful detainer against her. Ms....
Sometimes a landlord will file and serve her tenant a complaint for forcible detainer instead of an unlawful detainer. What is the difference? Forcible detainers are usually filed and served when the landlord is alleging that the tenant has stayed in her apartment...
You see a listing for an apartment on the Internet. There is only one electric meter and one water meter for the apartment and for the upstairs single family house. The apartment was built in the back of a garage. You take the apartment because the rent is...
San Francisco voters approved Proposition M in 2008. The measure amended the San Francisco Rent Ordinance to ban bad faith or “harassment” actions conducted by the landlord or their agents. The San Francisco Superior Court upheld the measure. Landlords appealed to the...
All residential leases in California have an implied warranty of habitability. But what can the tenant do if the implied warranty of habitability is breached by the landlord? A tenant can plead breach of the warranty of habitability as a defense to an unlawful...
All residential leases in California have an implied warranty of habitability. This means that the landlord must do necessary maintenance to the apartment throughout the period of the lease and ensure it is “tenantable.” Before 1974, tenants were viewed as acquiring a...
