Evicting Tenant in Jail for a Drug Related Offense

My question involves an eviction in the state of: California

My tenant's place got raided by the cops/DEA and several people got arrested and put in jail for drug related activities... Spoke to the deputy the next day and was told i should start filing an eviction notice asap, if not, i as landlord will be in trouble as well. I thought I can just send 3-day notice but tenant is currently in jail, unsure when he's released. do i have to file personally or can i use service from firm specializing in eviction in general or more specialized service dealing with evicting tenant already in jail? will the process take as long as other cases where tenant does not pay? TIA for your help

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My question involves an eviction in the state of: California

My tenant's place got raided by the cops/DEA and several people got arrested and put in jail for drug related activities.

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Last I checked California was part of the United States of America and in the good ole USA people are innocent until proven guilty.

There are no convictions here so what would be your reason for evicting them?

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Spoke to the deputy the next day and was told i should start filing an eviction notice asap, if not, i as landlord will be in trouble as well.

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What law school did the deputy graduate from and in what state is he a member of the bar?

If the answer to both questions is none and none, please report the deputy to the bar of california for practicing law without a license. Thanks!!!!!!

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I thought I can just send 3-day notice but tenant is currently in jail, unsure when he's released.

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If the defendant is in jail, you can inquire with the jail as to how they handle process of service upon an inmate. It's usually pretty simple. Assuming this is a state facility, there may be information on the Sheriff's Department website.

The amount of time it takes to complete an eviction is dependent upon factors including whether the defendant fights the eviction.

Illegal activity resulting in a federal raid due to the sale of drugs on the premises is the sort of activity that will support an eviction for cause. You don't have to wait for a conviction. An eviction is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and there is a lower standard of proof. If the tenant fights the eviction, you should consider having a lawyer assist you with the case, and be prepared to present admissible evidence of the criminal activity and what the police detected during their raid.

Thanx y'all for chiming in! my tenant and i have good relationship, though he's a little behind on paying off his portion of last year's utility bill which i agreed to allow installments. If i have a chance to talk to him about moving, he'll probably cooperate but now he's in jail according to the deputy (i assume in a holding cell awaiting investigation or something, not really serving time), I can only file eviction notice.... he said sheriff department will be working closely with me on this. I'm afraid tenant will not be very happy and start fighting the eviction which can take months ... i'm wondering whether he'll still owe me rent while being evicted...

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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Illegal activity resulting in a federal raid due to the sale of drugs on the premises is the sort of activity that will support an eviction for cause.

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If someone can PROVE it.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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You don't have to wait for a conviction.

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But you do need evidence to support your case and mere charges aren't enough.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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An eviction is a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and there is a lower standard of proof.

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Yes there is, but proof is the operative word - she still needs some proof.

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I'm afraid tenant will not be very happy and start fighting the eviction which can take months

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You have no proof and you are taking legal advice from a non-lawyer cop. Bad idea. You risk civil liability if the cops made a bad arrest.

You do realize you took legal advice from the cops that made the arrest, right and how bad you will look if the cops were wrong. Saying the cops told me to initiate an eviction will not be an acceptable defense as they aren't lawyers. Now you may be able to get the cop in trouble for doing that, but it won't limit your civil liability.

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Quoting JulesJam

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You have no proof and you are taking legal advice from a non-lawyer cop. Bad idea. You risk civil liability if the cops made a bad arrest.

You do realize you took legal advice from the cops that made the arrest, right and how bad you will look if the cops were wrong. Saying the cops told me to initiate an eviction will not be an acceptable defense as they aren't lawyers. Now you may be able to get the cop in trouble for doing that, but it won't limit your civil liability.

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JulesJam ... It wasn't a simple arrest by couple of cops; the property was raided by at least half a dozen with shotguns and face covers like an episode of Cops or NCIS. Looks like they have been under the cops' radar for some time. They kicked down the doors of couple units and arrested about 5 people that we know of, could be more .... Cops wouldn't raid the place unless they have some evidence, so I don't think the burden of proofs is on my shoulder ....

When I got the call from the deputy the next morning, he did not seem to be giving me advice, but rather an order ... I did ask a few questions and was told he cannot provide any legal advises ... He said it is a nice neighborhood and neighbors were scared and the department makes sure landlord, in situation like this, clean up the mess. He also said the department will continue monitoring my progress until it's done in a timely manner, if not, they will come down hard on me for not doing enough

CA law allows tenant eviction when the tenant is committing or permitting to exist a nuisance, is creating an unreasonable interference with the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of any of the other residents of the same or adjacent buildings or the tenant is using or permitting a rental unit to be used for any illegal purpose.

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When I got the call from the deputy the next morning, he did not seem to be giving me advice, but rather an order ...

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That's as effed up as its gets. The gestapo cops cannot order you to evict a tenant. Do you have no common sense? WE do not live in Nazi Germany. Cops do not have the power to order private citizens to engage in civil causes of action.

I have NO sympathy for you whatsoever if you proceed thinking you were ordered by a cop to evict a tenant and later suffer consequences for it.

I would report the cop to his supervisor.

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I did ask a few questions and was told he cannot provide any legal advises ... He said it is a nice neighborhood and neighbors were scared and the department makes sure landlord, in situation like this, clean up the mess. He also said the department will continue monitoring my progress until it's done in a timely manner, if not, they will come down hard on me for not doing enough

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Report him to his supervisor. He is so far OTT and out of line that he should be fired.

If you follow his legal advice, and the fact that he doesn't label it legal advice doesn't make it so, you deserve whatever you get.

Property owners that allow illegal activity to continue can face potential civil penalties and even potentially LOSE the property. Sure, the landlord can dig in his heels, but, the feds have some pretty liberal asset seizure laws, and CA has laws that permit local government to abate nuisance properties and fine the property owner and even seize the property if they fail to take action. I suspect the deputy was acting to give the landlord the heads' up to address the issue.

Note that the FEDS (the DEA) do not go in on a raid for someone holding a couple of grams of meth.! This is not some case of simple possession. Manufacturing and distribution are the kind of cases that can catch property owners and even friends in their webs. And if a manufacturing case, the landlord gets to pay for any hazmat cleanup ... and that can be tens of thousands of dollars!

But, certainly, the landlord can do nothing and then hope that the local government and the feds do not care to proceed. On the other hand, if they feel that the landlord is somehow complicit in the activity ...

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That's as effed up as its gets. The gestapo cops cannot order you to evict a tenant. Do you have no common sense? WE do not live in Nazi Germany.

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Dial it down a notch or three, Jules.

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Quoting JulesJam

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You have no proof and you are taking legal advice from a non-lawyer cop. Bad idea. You risk civil liability if the cops made a bad arrest.

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You don't help yourself when you compound your nonsensical belief that a tenant cannot be evicted for criminal activity before the tenant is convicted, with your even more bizarre notion that a landlord bringing such an eviction case could "risk civil liability" if the tenant prevails in an eviction action flowing from a major drug raid and arrest on the rented premises. If the landlord is unable to prove that the tenant's illegal activity rose to the level that justified eviction, the consequence is simply that the tenant doesn't get evicted.

Looks like we're gonna use professional eviction company to assist us in this matter, but before then a friend of a friend, who is a veteran in residential rental business, suggested we should look into the Abandonment route to save money since we'll have to evict 3 different households... I did some research and thought this is unwise because the premises are being 'temporarily unoccupied" due to unusual circumstance, not "abandoned", but then he's a veteran so he should know better than me... Do you think this would work? TIA

Abandonment is explained here,

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Quoting If your tenant seems to have moved out, even if you have not filed an eviction case in court

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If rent is 14 or more consecutive days overdue and the landlord has good reason to believe that the tenant has moved out without letting the landlord know, this is called “abandonment.”

If this happens, the landlord can send the tenant a Notice of Belief of Abandonment that includes the name of the tenant and the address of the rental unit. It must also say that this is a “Notice of Belief of Abandonment” and say what date the landlord is ending the lease or rental agreement. The date must be at least 15 days after the landlord serves the notice in person, or 18 days after he or she serves the notice by mail. The landlord must also sign and date the notice.

The tenant has 15 days if served in person, or 18 days if served by mail, to send the landlord a response telling the landlord that he or she has not abandoned the premises, or to pay the landlord all or part of the rent that is owed.

If the tenant does not answer the notice, the landlord can move the tenant’s belongings out and rent the place to someone else without having to file an unlawful detainer case.

BUT the landlord must be very careful because if the rent was not overdue for 14 days, or he or she did not wait long enough for the tenant to answer, or he or she had no good reason to think that the tenant moved out, the tenant could sue the landlord for “wrongful eviction.”

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See also the California Civil Code, Sec. 1951.3, here.

I'm not a lawyer.

There does not need to be a criminal burden of proof to evict a tenant for criminal activity at least is NYS. However, the housing court judge does demand appropriate evidence before evicting. The strongest evidence is, of course, a conviction. However, a conviction is not necessarily a requirement in a housing court case. What other evidence do you have? Do you have access to any video of the raid? Also, you may wish to take a trip to the criminal court, copy the records (such as arrest reports, list of inventory seized, arresting officer statements, etc) and use it as part of your evidence. If it's a federal case, go to the court or obtain some of the documents online. You may also subpoena the officers that conducted the raid to get them to testify as to what they observed in the apt. How about getting victims (if any) of the tenant to testify. You may also secure the tenant's criminal background report as the tenant may have a history of similar crimes that places your property and other tenants in danger. A combination of evidence to paint a comprehensive picture for the judge would help.

Some localities, including in NYS, do require the landlord to take action when it knows of criminal activity on the premises. There was one case when there were multiple allegations of drug use in an apt and multiple drug raids and the landlord was eventually sued by the locality because they thought landlord was allowing this to occur. However, the landlord actually already started a case against the tenant probably about a year before and that case was still ongoing at the time of the lawsuit. The locality was notified of the existing court case against the tenant and nothing ever happened after that and the tenant was eventually evicted.

Most of that would be... overkill. In any event, the OP has hired a professional to handle the eviction case. Odds are the defendants, who if you recall are facing criminal charges, will default.

It is not overkill depending on your locality. Housing court judges in some localities may not require as much evidence to evict, however, housing court judges in other localities where they are very pro-tenant, such as in NYC, are much less likely to approve an eviction unless the evidence is very strong. My philosophy is, the more evidence provided, the better, especially when dealing with judges that are much more pro-tenant. Also, the more evidence provided, the less likely the case will be dragged out.