California eviction is a procedural minefield. Notice type, service method, just-cause requirement, and the unlawful detainer timeline all change based on tenancy length, AB 1482 coverage, and whether your city has a local rent board. This category covers the mechanics — not legal advice, but enough to ask your lawyer the right questions.
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When an adult child refuses to leave a senior housing unit after the tenant moves to assisted living, California treats him as an established resident after 30 days — triggering the full unlawful detainer process.
AB 1482 replaced at-will eviction with 14 enumerated grounds. We break down every at-fault and no-fault reason, relocation-assistance math, and coastal-city overlay rules.
The notice drives everything: a 3-day notice to pay or quit for nonpayment, 30 or 60 days for a no-fault termination depending on tenancy length, each with its own service rules. Serve the wrong notice, or the right notice the wrong way, and the case restarts.
For tenancies past 12 months, the termination has to fit a statutory just-cause category. At-fault causes follow the notice-and-cure path; no-fault causes require relocation assistance and, in several coastal cities, advance filing with the local rent board.
If the notice expires without compliance, the case moves to unlawful detainer in superior court. Tenant defenses — defective notice, habitability, retaliation — are where most coastal filings stall. This is procedure, not legal advice, but enough to ask a lawyer the right questions.