Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Writ of possession

If the landlord obtains judgment against you, you will have to move. The judgment may include the landlord�s court costs and attorney fees plus any proven damages. You may appeal the judgment; however, an appeal does not automatically stay proceedings upon the judgment. To stay the execution of the judgment during the appeal process you must file a Petition for Stay of Execution Pending Appeal.

A petition for stay must first be directed to the judicial officer who hears your case. Petitions are not granted unless it can be shown that you will suffer extreme hardship in the absence of a stay, and that the stay will not cause a hardship to the landlord. If the judicial officer grants the petition, you will have to pay the �reasonable monthly rental value� to the court in advance as rent becomes due. The Court also has the discretion to impose other conditions on the granting of the stay. The Court also has the discretion to restore a tenant to his/her former tenancy in cases of extreme hardship. You may petition the Court to be restored to your tenancy by filing an Application and Petition for Relief from Forfeiture.

Hardship is the only basis on which the court may relieve a tenant from forfeiture of a lease. If the petition is granted, you will be required to make full payment of all rent due and to fully perform any other conditions of the lease, if applicable. The Court may also require you to pay the landlord�s attorney fees and costs.

The single biggest obstacle is that this matter proceeding with way of a default judgment. Unless you can convince the judget to set aside the default and default judgment, you friend can't apply for any of relief stated above.

Re: Writ of possession

Your friend could try to negotiate with the landlord's attorney and pay something to stay a little while longer. Other than that, he might well be out of luck.