Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Landlord/tenant issue

The three day notice was probably invalid. A tenant's obligation is to "tender" [present to the other person] the rent money and whether or not the landlord then cashes it or not does not matter, the rent has been "paid". Afterall, the complete defense to a three day notice is tendering the rent to the landlord before those three days expire; obviously in that situation the rent is late. I vaguely recall that there is a place on the complaint filed for a three day notice asking if any part ofthe rent was paid. If the landlord could just refuse to accept a check unless it contained any applicable penalties or service charges then if a tenant mails the full payment Monday on Tuesday when the landlord gets it in the mail, there is another day of interest charges and the landlord could refuse that check and the tenant would not be in compliance until they over paid.

So the landlord was not entitled to file a three day notice suit; since the suit could be voided [if the correct legal defense above were presented] and the attorney should have known to ask the landlord if you had tried to pay, the reasonable value [the word reasonable is automatically added to the phrase legal fees] of the legal work was at best zero [since it would have cost the landlord time and money to go to court with the complaint, it can be argued the value is a negative number].

So tell the landlord that you want several things: a) a stipulation that he has to file in court setting aside any judgment entered aqnd dismissing with prejudice the suit and any other rental suits against you from that landlord; b) a letter from him stating that there had been an error on his part that resulted in the suit being filed and the three day notice being given and that you in fact had paid the rent;c) a letter for all the credit card companies stating that you had paid the rent and he was wrong to give your a three day notice, file suit, and take judgment when he was not legally entitled to do so; d) an apology to you for creating the situation: e) a payment of $250 to you for emotional injuries unless all of this is resolved within 10 business days; f) his arranging for no one, including his lawyer, contacting you to try to get money from you for this incident. In return you will sign an agreement not to sue him for the damages caused you.