Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

In California co-tenants (owners) have equal rights to the property they own together, and one or both can begin the eviction process. The fact that one co-tenant lives on the property does not necessarily give that co-tenant more rights than the co-tenant who does not live there.

That being said, if the co-tenant not living on the property wants to evict a tenant, and the co-tenant living on the property does not, the tenant will be able to argue that they have a right to possess the property because the co-tenant in possession is their landlord and has given the tenant the right to possess the property.. Because the sole issue at an unlawful detainer trial is the right to possession, that may be a complete defense to the eviction action.

Mr. Hoffman is wrong. It makes no difference which owner rents out the property. Tenants in Common (TICs) each have the full legal rights of ownership. That includes the right of one TIC to rent the property, subject of course to the other TIC's right to rent it to someone else. At that point each rental tenant would have equal rights to occupy the property, and each would have a right to sue the TIC who rented to them for breach of the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment. If either TIC then tries to evict the other TIC's tenant, both TICs could be sued for wrongful eviction. As you may be beginning to see, TICs who do not manage the property by agreement do nothing but create a huge mess. The fact that one of the occupants is a TIC and the other is a renter, doesn't really change anything. The only option for TICs who cannot agree on occupancy and management of the property is to file a partition action to have the court order the property sold at a sheriff's sale, and the proceeds divided. Filing such an action almost always either brings the recalcitrant TIC to their senses and forces cooperation, or results in one TIC buying the other out, or results in the lawsuit being put on hold while the property is sold by regular listing and sale, because that will always bring more money than a sheriff's auction.