Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

You have to act quickly and carefully. This is not a shoot from the hip answer. You may need to evict, but you need some facts first. Send me an email to discuss.

Best,

Daniel Bakondi, Esq.

[email protected]

415-450-0424

The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC

870 Market Street, Suite 1161

San Francisco CA 94102

http://www.danielbakondi.com

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Interesting how Mr. Bakondi never actually answers a question, just tells you to contact him. What you do depends on whether or not he ever was a legitimate rent paying tenant. You call him a squatter, but if he ever had the status of a tenant, he has the rights of a tenant. Either way you are going to need the cooperation of the former owner to figure out the guy's status and get the proof you will need. This really should have been dealt with between you and the former landlord/owner in the purchase/sale transaction. In any case you are going to have to file an unlawful detainer action against him. Technically if he is a true squatter you could have him removed by the police as a trespasser, but all he has to do is say he has a right to live there or has paid rent in the past, and the police will back off and tell you it is a "civil matter." That is police-speak for "you'll have to get a court order sorting this out before we will do anything." Nolo Press has a good book on doing your own unlawful detainer. You can look it up on their website at Nolo.com. If you run into snags, I'll be happy to answer simple follow-up questions. If you need more formal consultation, I suggest you find a local attorney, or I would be happy to discuss assisting you if you prefer.

Mr. McCormick has given you some very good advice. Be sure that you also have insurance on the building in case the occupant does something destructive. It may be somewhat dangerous, but you might want to meet the person in a public location to discuss what his position is, as you do not want to wait until a court appearance to find out what his defenses are. The easiest and least expensive solution to such problem "tenant" situations is to offer the person a cash "incentive" payable upon his actually moving out; that is not a "legal" solution but an observation by a landlord who also happens to be an attorney.