Re: Notice for eviction for 2x late - Landlord Forum thread

Re: Notice for eviction for 2x late by Anonymous on June 7, 2012 @11:03

According to California law, a LL can serve an eviction notice for the following reasons:
Failed to pay the rent.
Violated any provision of the lease or rental agreement.
Materially damaged the rental property ("committed waste").
Used the rental property for an unlawful purpose.
Substantially interfered with other tenants ("committed a nuisance").
Committed domestic violence or sexual assault against, or stalked another tenant or subtenant on the premises.
Engaged in drug dealing, unlawfully used, cultivated, imported, or manufactured illegal drugs.
Unlawful conduct involving weapons or ammunition.

It seems, according to what you wrote, the lease was violated twice by not paying rent on time and possibly once or several times in regards to smoking on the property. If any of your guests had smoked within the apartment or on the property, you would be held accountable for their actions.

In regards to lateness of rent, even though you paid the rent within a week of due date and paid the late fee, it is still marked as late, even if you had a reason. Usually, for a LL to prevail in an eviction for habitual lateness, the rent would have to have been paid late over several months and he would have had to issue a notice (Pay or quit)to you with each incident.

If the three-day notice is based on one of the other seven conditions listed above, the notice must either describe the tenant's violation of the lease or rental agreement, or describe the tenant's other improper conduct. The three-day notice must be properly served on the tenant (see Proper Service of Notices).

Depending on the type of violation, the three-day notice demands either (1) that the tenant correct the violation or leave the rental unit, or (2) that the tenant leave the rental unit. If the violation involves something that the tenant can correct (for example, the tenant hasn't paid the rent, or the tenant has a pet but the lease doesn't permit pets), the notice must give the tenant the option to correct the violation.

Failing to pay the rent, and most violations of the terms of a lease or rental agreement, can be corrected. In these situations, the three-day notice must give the tenant the option to correct the violation.

Now, some LL are more lenient, considering other factors such as is the tenant clean, respectful, no other violations. Some are by the book and rules are rules. If you are dealing with an apartment complex, or an owner that owns multiple properties, most likely it is going to be this is the lease, these are the terms you agreed to, and if you break one of the provisions, it automatically starts the process of notices because they are not going to take each resident and their situation/infraction on a case by case basis so as to not be accused of showing favoritism and being inconsistent by other possibly "professional" tenants.

It might sound harsh what is happening and it is if nothing else is going on that you haven't disclosed but you now have the choice to stay and fight the eviction, or begin the search for a new place that may be more suited to you being a smoker and more lenient in their lease enforcement.

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