As a residential property owner in Los Angeles, your hope is that you will be able to maintain a good relationship with all of your tenants. Doing so ensures that you maintain a strong reputation (which can then also help guarantee that there will rarely be a shortage of demand for your properties). Yet despite your best efforts and wishes, there may be times where a tenant’s actions (or inaction) forces your hand and requires you to consider commencing eviction proceedings. Yet just as you hope to be known as a reasonable landlord, you also do not want to be known as one who evicts over every little discrepancy or disagreement. Being in too big of a hurry to get someone out of one of your units might come back to haunt you.
Thus, it is important to understand the circumstances in which you are within your rights to evict. According to information shared by the Judicial Branch of California, you can evict when:
- A tenant fails to meet rent payment deadlines
- A tenant damages your property
- A tenant makes themselves a serious nuisance to other residents of the same property
- A tenant engages in illegal activity on your property
Instances where a tenant violates the term of a lease agreement (e.g. bringing in a roommate without informing you when their rent rate is based on occupancy) can also be grounds for eviction. In some cases, it may be in your best interest to work with the tenant to resolve any violations before considering eviction. Yet where a first offense is egregious enough, you are likely justified in evicting.