Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Eviction

There is messy, and then there is MESSY!!!! I've heard of tenants who were pack-rats and who stuffed their apartments with so much junk that it was a fire hazard. You must have a path to enter and exit the apartment, at a minimum.

Absent a local ordinance to the contrary, a landlord can terminate any month-to-month tenant on 30 or 60 days notice, depending on whether the tenant has been there over a year or not. No reason is needed.

The major exceptions are if the landlord is retaliating for the tenant's exercise of rights, such as the right to complain to government officials about the condition of the unit, or if the landlord's decision is discriminatory and based on one of the protected categories set forth in the fair housing laws. Nothing in your question (except the presence of children and the marital status of the tenant) suggests the possibility that the landlord's decision was not legal.

I suggest you check to see if there is a landlord -- tenant mediation service available in your area. These are often low cost and receive government subsidies. Even if a landlord can legally evict a tenant, sometimes s/he can be persuaded not to by a neutral third party.