Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Possible eviction from family

There are three possible categories you might fall into, legally: tenant, guest or lodger. A lodger is anyone who rents a room (or room and board) in a dwelling unit occupied by the owner, if the owner retains a right of access to all areas of the unit occupied by the lodger and has overall control of the unit.

Tenants have to be evicted through the formal, legal process even if they are family; guests can be required to leave at any time. Lodgers must be given notice but the process of removing them is simpler than a full-scale tenant eviction. Whether you are a guest, lodger or a tenant depends on the interplay of many facts, only one of which is whether you pay rent.

If I were advising your father, I would tell him that you might be considered a tenant, and that to be on the safe side he should give you the notices required to evict a month-to-month tenant.

However, since it isn't for sure that you are a tenant (and not a guest or lodger), and you haven't said how much rent you're paying, a judge could decide you're unwelcome guests and that no formalities were necessary.

In any case, the outcome will depend on facts not given, including whether there was any agreement or understanding at or near the time you moved in, whether you are paying anything, how long you've been there, whether there are other tenants or roomers at the property, and so forth.

If your father wants to get rid of you badly enough, sooner or later he will succeed. I think it is time to de-emphasize the legal questions of what he has to do, and get on with finding a place of your own, salvaging as much of the family peace and respect as possible in the process.