Co-Owners Rights to his Home

[Napatime]

Well, this situation is a little complicated but I haven’t been able to get any answers, so here I am. A friend of mine bought
a house in Southern California and his girlfriend talked him into adding her name to the grant deed (I know, bad move).
My friend’s girlfriend (now an ex) put a restraining order on him so that he wasn’t allowed back in his home, she then
moved out of the house (stealing all of his furniture) and is currently renting the property to her friends. The restraining
order has since been lifted, however my friend cannot get back into his home because of the renters. The house is currently
tied up in litigation (and has been for almost 2 years) due to our lawyer being unable to locate her.

Now for my questions:

Does my friend have any rights to his home? Does he have to honor the rights of the renters if he is not the one renting the house?
(the ex is making a living (not to mention a killing) off of the rent while my friend pays the mortgage every month)

Can my friend somehow have these people evicted?

I would just like to know what rights my friend has to his property. (His lawyer is unhelpful and seems to be a little lazy)

[Mr. Knowitall]

If the tenants are paying the rent, it is elementary to find out where the girlfriend is - she's collecting the rent checks. He should be able to subpoena the tenants to testify at a hearing, and ask them where they send their checks.

Your friend can talk to his lawyer about having the court order that rent payments be made through the court, perhaps escrowed with the court, pending the resolution of the litigation.

Your friend got himself into this mess, and he can't simply kick the tenants out.

[Napatime]

Well, if we could find her our issues would at least be 70% gone. This woman that my friend is dealing with is a con artist and has pulled similar scams on other men. She is currently squatting in a foreclosed home however, the private investigator is having trouble because she rarely leaves the house. People like this are difficult to catch, therefore, difficult to serve lawsuits.

I thought that maybe a court order may be beneficial to us in some way. I don't believe my friend can even take the renters to court, I think he needs to seek rent from the other owner of the property.

It should be illegal for only one of two owners to sign a binding agreement of this nature. Both parties should have to sign an agreement to make it legal to rent. -My opinion