Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Removal of unwanted guests from my home

I'm really sorry to hear about your situation - its amazing how some people treat those trying to help them. First, by having accepted "rent" from them in the amount of $400, you have established a lease with them, and you cannot simply throw them out. You do have to give them proper legal notice, and then when they do not leave, you will have to file an Unlawful Detainer lawsuit to evict them. The entire process is lengthy, and costly (you'll probably spend $500 to $1,000 on attorneys fees, $200 in filing fees, another $100 or so to have the marshall perform the lockout, and you will have to change your locks at the time of the lockout). My suggestion is that you pursue two courses of action. First, serve them with the proper notice. You could serve them with a three day notice to pay rent or quit - they agreed to pay you $500, but only paid $400. The problem with that is they only need to pay you $100 in the three days, and you start over. I'd suggest that a 30 day notice to terminate their tenancy is more likely to end this once and for all. Have a third-party serve them personally (each of them, plus one copy to "all other tenants, subtenants and occupants in possession"). Once they have been served, go to them and offer to pay them $1,500 to go away. You'll probably spend something close to that getting rid of them through eviction, plus you'll have 30 days plus the length of the eviction to put up with more of their nuisance. You need to look at the cost versus benefit of paying them to leave, or putting up with them for possibly 60 more days (more if they file bankruptcy) and still having to pay a bunch of money to get rid of them. Before you pay them the money, have an attorney draft a settlement agreement and mutual release to protect you in the event they don't leave, or do decide to pursue you for their claimed "damages". Sorry again about your situation, but unfortunately you unknowningly picked some real bad-apples to help.

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