When Does the Notice Period for Eviction Start
My question involves an eviction in the state of: California.
A couple I have known for 11 yrs mentioned that they had a house for rent (they had just evicted some people from it for some reason) due to a death in the family (around the month of April) and my family of 7 needed a place to move. The house is listed for sale (the reverse mortgage lender requirement) and the property still has to be dealt with in Probate Court (a process not yet started), but the house cannot be left vacant due to some other drama they were having.
So, Mr. K (the husband of the couple) and I discuss the possibilities and generalities of the deal via text and phone over the course of the week of May 16-21 with a move in date asap and the rental agreement to be executed the day we take possession since the couple lives in Texas.
Terms: Rent of $1300, no deposit, no credit check, initial term of 6 mos & then we will re-address at that time depending on the Probate process and such, no extra costs for having a small dog, utilities can be migrated over to my name slowly depending on deposits required upfront, we need to accommodate the sale of the house (by letting Agents & Buyers view it), water the lawns daily, they will pay for & arrange the landscaping, and they will work with us if we are late with rent since I had just been laid off. Mr. K said that we would need to sign a "different looking" rental agreement because the lender doesn't allow tenants only house sitters, but was willing to have one to pacify the lender and the "real" one to represent the actual terms discussed.
The week of the 23rd, I waited for the "Occupancy Agreement" or any type of contract to review ahead of time and every day was an excuse for delay.
05/27 – received Occupancy Agreement containing terms we did not agree to such as a security deposit, pet rent, a $25 late fee with a $5 per diem additional penalty until rent was paid. I advised Mr. K that I had issues with it, wasn't going to sign it but would email him with my concerns. We agreed to proceed with move-in an discuss the disputed terms once the move was done.
05/28 - Possession occurred with $100 due for May pro-rated rent, as agreed. Mr. K did not show up from Texas to execute or handle the Occupancy Agreement. His son gave us the keys, showed us what we needed to know, and we hired the son and some friends to help us move in (which was Mr. K's suggestion). As agreed, I deposited $1,000 in cash directly to Mr. K's bank account, with the balance of $400 due on 06/06 and to be paid in the same manner of deposit.
05/29 – I emailed our response to the Occupancy Agreement and request for changes, based on our verbal/text agreement.
05/30 – Mr. K sent the Agreement back with some of the requested revisions and a lot more additions that were not disclosed as being done. (I found out because I merged the original and revised Word documents so I would only have to focus on the changes and not re-read the entire thing).
06/06 – We deposited the balance due of $400 into Mr. K's bank account.
06/20 – 3 women showed up at my door stating that there are 6 siblings who have an interest in this property and there are 3 wills and that I am not renting from an heir to the estate. I advised Mr. K of the occurrence.
06/21 – Mr K agreed to change a few additional terms we requested (such as a payment plan for the deposit we agreed to pay and due date for rent). He failed to address a few issues from my original request and my questioning of the added items post-possession. Specifically, an auto acceptance of the Agreement by taking possession....that occurred 3 days before he added that line to the Agreement.
06/24 – The landscape & maintenance guy, showed up with the ORIGINAL Occupancy Agreement in hand for my signature. He called Mr. K when I refused to sign it since it was not reflective of all of the changes we had agreed to, nor had an Amendment attached as Mr. K said it would have with some of the changes. I indicated more than once on that visit that if I had the amendment (as suggested by Mr. K in one of his many emails), that we would be willing to review it and possibly sign it once I confirmed nothing else was added to it without my knowledge.
06/27 – Received email from Mr. K containing a Word document stating it was a Notice to Vacate by 07/03 for failure to sign the Agreement! The Agreement we have been negotiating for almost 3 weeks. (less than a week of notice)
06/28 – Received a certified letter original of the same Word document.
06/28 - Personal delivery of the same Word document by a mutual friend of ours.
06/29 - Counsel that I consulted with (for almost 2 weeks) regarding this sent a response letter to Mr. & Mrs. K indicating that they need to show cause to evict on what is only a verbal lease now.
Since then...I have received very strongly worded texts and threats of arrest, lock out, changing of the locks, utilities shut off, etc if we do not vacate by 07/03 (today). I called 3 diff departments of the local Sherriff, my atty, other landlords I know...everyone says he needs to give us a 30 day notice and start the eviction process. Mr. K actually is saying we only were supposed to be here a few weeks and more lies...claiming we are trespassing, etc. We are not behind in rent, have established residency, have mail coming here, have utilities in our name, etc.
Apparently, police consider residency to be established once you have resided somewhere for 30 days or more and standard eviction process has to occur starting after that. But, the one spot of ambiguity that exists from talking to people is that the Notice to Vacate was sent to me before the 30 days...the 29th day (email) and the 30th day (cert letter). Did they circumvent legal processes by a 2 day margin and they can really strong arm us out in 6 days???
Sorry for the book..
Re: Eviction Notice W/in First Month Circumvents the Legal Process
A notice to quit is effective when it is served, not retroactively.
If that doesn't answer your question, delete the 99% of your book that is irrelevant to the question such that what you're asking is more clear.
Re: Eviction Notice W/in First Month Circumvents the Legal Process
TL;DR. :D
All joking aside... in CA, "constructive" or "self-service" eviction processes, including shutting off of utilities, are illegal without a specific court order allowing the landlord to take the specified actions.
Other than that, what you have is a very complicated case of poor decision-making based on trust and time-pressures, in that you have a verbal agreement (in essence) that was not even finalized prior to you taking possession of the home. Throw in the technicality of "house sitter" versus "tenant," the issues with probate and will contestation by the heirs, and the fact that the landlord is in a whole 'nother state, and you have a situation where an attorney really is required. This is too complicated and specific of a question to be effectively answered here.