Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Your assumption regarding the landlord's rights is incorrect. Under California law, if the premises are not occupied, and the rent has not been paid, then the landlord can declare the house to be "abandoned," and therefore your right to possession of the house terminated. There is no requirement in that case to file an unlawful detainer lawsuit, nor to go forward to a lockout by the sheriff.

I assume neither you nor your boyfriend provided the landlord with forwarding addresses, and as such, he probably had no choice but to send the notice of belief of abandonment to the house, where you may not have received it. Once the premises are deemed legally to be abandoned, the landlord can then go through a process of providing notices and any property left behind can be auctioned for storage cost. But, you do need to ensure that the landlord has done so, as otherwise he may have illegally entered the premises and illegally removed your property. I would suggest that you contact the landlord on the premise that you would like to recover your possessions, and then give him possession by delivering the keys. If you haven't been paying rent, you really have no right to expect to move back in. If he says he got rid of your stuff, ask him for copies of the notices and proofs of service indicating that he complied with the law regarding abandonment and disposal of your personal property. If he cannot provide this proof, sue him. Otherwise, if he complied with the law, you could very well be completely out of luck. I don't think it is reasonable to expect that more than a month after abandoning the property, and not paying rent that the landlord would just leave your possession in place until you decided to come back.

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