Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

No, responding is not what you need to do after receiving a General Denial. Think again.

A general denial is a form of answer. By filing it, the other side agrees to the court jurisdiction over it. You now do discovery or whatever else is needed.

The only response anyone would ever file to a General Denial is a demurrer, and you only file a demurrer to a General Denial if a General Denial was served as the response to a verified Complaint (or if the General Denial contained affirmative defenses that were worth demurring to, but I've never seen that in almost 25 years of litigation practice). Even if the General Denial is filed in response to a verified complaint, a demurrer really is a waste of time, unless you make a phone call, or send a letter to the person who filed the General Denial to a verified complaint, pointing out that they have to file a verified paragraph-by-paragraph Answer to a verified Complaint, and they refuse to correct their error.

You haven't given much background, so all the attorneys providing answers are guessing that you are a self-represented plaintiff and that your defendant (or one of them) has responded to your summons and complaint by filing and serving an answer containing only a general denial rather than paragraph-by-paragraph admissions and denials of the allegations of the complaint.

Whether the answer is appropriate or not depends upon whether the complaint was verified. A general denial is okay in response to an unverified complaint, and no response is needed or appropriate. (Note, however, that some complaints must be verified, e.g. complaints for partition of property).

If the complaint were verified, the use of a general denial is inappropriate and subjects the answer to possible demurrer. See Code of Civil Procedure sections 431.30 and 431.40. Whether to demur or not is a strategic consideration that cannot be answered without a full overview of the case, parties and attorneys. I have, on one occasion, demurred to an answer with mixed results -- the court sustained the demurrer and ordered the defendants to file a new answer. They did not, so I took their default. The defendants then filed bankruptcy!