Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Hello,
I have lived in my apartment for 8 years. The rental agreement says that this is a non-smoking apartment. Tenants shall be non-smokers. Recently new tenants moved in on either side of me. One of them complained to the landlord that they smelled cigarette smoke and pot. I agreed with her that occasionally I thought I smelled it also. She pressured the manager to find the source most likely people smoking in the parking lot below. Eventually, he knocked on our door 3 hours after I left for work and woke up my roomate still asleep. He asked if he could come in to "check something out". He took 3 steps into the room and said "I smell smoke " and walked out. He returned 10 minutes later and served my roomate an eviction notice for 60 days. There was nobody there other than my roomate. she was sleeping. There couldn't be smoke to smell. My rental agreement states that smoking is not allowed in the unit or anywhere else on the property and repeated warnings could lead to eviction. Although wrong, this is the first incident other than the landlord knocking on my door and publicly and loudly accusing me of smoking in the outside parking lot. He realized he had the wrong person.
It seems a little harsh that he can evict me without warning because he thought he smelled something he couldn't have. I understood the agreement that smoking was not allowed anywhere on the premises even outside. He said the tenants have to be a non smoker period. Is what I do when I leave the premises any of his business.? I was planning on moving closer to my work soon anyway. I don't think it's fair that I have an eviction on my record. I have been a good tenant for 8 years no complaints. I would like to leave on good terms with a good reference.

Asked on 10/11/14, 1:41 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

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As a smoker you are not aware of how much lingering smell of smoke you leave behind wherever you go. Until I quit years ago, I had NO idea how much everything around me smelled of smoke. So since you have tacitly admitted you are a smoker, you are simply mistaken that your landlord could not have smelled smoke in your apartment. If you signed a rental agreement that called for you to be a non-smoker, you breached that agreement. Whether that is an enforceable term is moot, because you were given a 60-day notice. So unless you are under a lease that does not expire for more than 60 days, the landlord is within his or her rights to terminate your tenancy for that cause or no cause unless Novato has a "just cause only" eviction ordinance, which I don't believe they do.

The only good news is that it is not technically an eviction unless you fail to move out by the deadline and force the landlord to file an unlawful detainer action.

Answered on 10/12/14, 7:20 pm

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