California Eviction Process and Timelines: 2026 Step-by-Step Guide

1. Know your legal grounds before you write the first word of a notice

In California, just cause defines the specific, court-approved reasons a landlord may lawfully remove a tenant — think unpaid rent, repeated lease violations, or criminal conduct within the unit. These grounds split into two clear groups: at-fault (unpaid rent, unauthorized occupants, or property damage) and no-fault (owner move-in, significant repairs, or taking the unit off the market). Every category triggers distinct notice periods and procedural rules.

Under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482, codified at Civil Code § 1946.2), once a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied a covered property for 12 months, you cannot terminate the tenancy without one of the enumerated just causes. AB 1482 covers most rental housing whose certificate of occupancy is more than 15 years old, once a tenant reaches 12 months of continuous occupancy. Single-family homes are exempt only if the owner is a natural person (not a corporation, REIT, or LLC with a corporate member) and the lease included the Civil Code § 1946.2(e)(8)(B) statutory notice. Condos are exempt if owner-occupied for at least part of the year and that same statutory notice was given. Owner-occupied duplexes where the owner lives in one unit are also exempt.

If you own a single-family home but never delivered the required written exemption notice in the lease or as a separate document, AB 1482 applies to your property even though it would otherwise qualify for exemption. Get that notice right before you serve anything.

2. Serve the right notice — and count the days correctly

Match the notice to the ground. Serving a 30-day notice for unpaid rent, or a 3-day notice when you need 60 days, is a fatal defect — California courts apply strict compliance. There is no "close enough" — if the statute requires a specific recital, the absence of that recital is fatal regardless of whether the tenant was actually prejudiced.

At-fault notice periods come from CCP § 1161: a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit for nonpayment (3 days excluding weekends and court holidays); a 3-day notice to cure or quit for a curable lease violation (3 days excluding weekends and court holidays); and a 3-day unconditional notice to quit for nuisance, waste, illegal activity, or criminal threats (counting every day). For no-fault termination, a 30-day notice applies where the tenancy has lasted less than one year, and a 60-day notice where the tenancy has lasted one year or more.

As of the CCP § 1161 amendment operative February 1, 2025, weekends and judicial holidays are excluded from the 3-day notice period. The notice must include written language stating that the 3-day period excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and other judicial holidays. The 3-day notice can only include rent — no late fees, utilities, or other charges. Including anything extra in the dollar amount is another top defect.

California Civil Code § 1946.1 sets notice periods: 30 days for tenancies under 1 year, 60 days for tenancies of 1 year or more. CCP § 1161b adds 90 days for bona fide tenants after foreclosure and for Section 8 voucher holders.

For no-fault terminations on covered units, you also owe relocation assistance. Under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB 1482), codified as California Civil Code Section 1946.2, in the case of a no-fault just-cause eviction, the owner must notify the tenant of the tenant's right to relocation assistance. The amount must be equal to one month of the tenant's rent that was in effect when the owner issued the notice to terminate the tenancy, and must be provided within 15 calendar days of service of the notice. One month's rent is the state minimum under AB 1482. Many jurisdictions in Southern California have adopted local ordinances that provide significantly more. The City of Los Angeles, for example, has a Just Cause Ordinance and a Rent Stabilization Ordinance that can require landlords to pay multiple months of relocation assistance, with amounts adjusted annually.

3. File the Unlawful Detainer complaint after the notice period expires

If the notice period expires without cure or surrender, the landlord files an Unlawful Detainer Complaint in superior court and serves the Summons and Complaint on every adult tenant. An unlawful detainer is California's eviction lawsuit — a summary proceeding with compressed deadlines and the only lawful way to remove a tenant who won't leave voluntarily.

Service is governed by CCP § 1162: personal service first, substituted service (left with another adult plus mailing) if reasonable diligence is shown, and post-and-mail as a last resort. Defective service is one of the most common grounds to defeat the case. Use a professional process server or a sheriff's deputy — not the landlord personally.

Filing fees vary by the amount claimed. Under the California Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026: an unlawful detainer complaint where the amount claimed is over $35,000 carries a $435 filing fee; a complaint where the amount is over $10,000 up to $35,000 is $385; and a complaint where the amount is up to $10,000 is $240. Attorney fees, if you hire one, can run considerably higher.

4. The tenant response window: AB 2347's 10-court-day rule

This is the single most important recent change to California UD procedure. On September 24, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2347 into law. AB 2347 makes two important procedural revisions to unlawful detainer proceedings. As of January 1, 2025, defendants have ten days — excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and other judicial holidays — to file a response once served with the summons and complaint.

As of January 1, 2025, tenants now have 10 court days (instead of the prior 5 court days) to respond to an unlawful detainer complaint after being served. This applies to every residential eviction filed in California and adds roughly one week to every case. Landlords running unlawful detainer timelines off pre-2025 references will file motions for default too early; courts will deny them as premature.

If the tenant does not respond, the landlord can request a default judgment. If the court rules in favor of the landlord, they will issue a writ of possession. If the tenant does respond, the case proceeds to trial. Once the answer is on file, the plaintiff has 20 days to set the case for trial under CCP § 1170.5(a). UD trials are typically set within 20 days of the trial request.

5. Writ of possession and sheriff lockout

A landlord who wins gets a judgment for possession; only the sheriff can then remove the tenant. Only the sheriff can remove a tenant, acting on a writ of possession. The officer serves or posts a 5-day notice to vacate and returns to perform the lockout if the occupants remain. Landlords may never remove tenants themselves.

Self-help eviction is not just improper — it carries real financial consequences. The penalty for self-help eviction is $100 per day plus actual damages. After the lockout, the abandonment period is 15 days (personal delivery) or 18 days (mailed notice), and the landlord must send a written Notice of Right to Reclaim Abandoned Property.

6. Realistic timelines by scenario

Here's how the math stacks up in 2026, from first notice to final lockout. These are floor estimates — court calendars in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major metro counties routinely add weeks to each phase.

These estimates assume clean, defect-free notices served correctly on the first attempt. Extreme court backlogs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other major counties can significantly extend the trial-setting and hearing phases. Jury trials can add months.

Common landlord mistakes that restart the clock

The following mistakes — drawn from documented defects that appear repeatedly in California UD case law and court self-help materials — can force a landlord to start the entire process over from a new notice:

• Including late fees, utilities, or other charges in a 3-day pay-or-quit notice. The 3-day notice can only include rent — no late fees, utilities, or other charges.
• Miscounting the 3-day notice period. The notice period now excludes weekends and judicial holidays under the CCP § 1161 amendment operative February 1, 2025. Counting calendar days the old way produces a defective notice.
• Filing the UD before the notice period has fully run. Never file the lawsuit before the last day of the notice period has actually passed.
• Failing to include just-cause language on a covered tenancy. For LARSO/AB 1482-covered units, missing the just-cause statement and, for no-fault terminations, missing the required relocation-assistance offer are both fatal defects.
• Serving the wrong tenant or skipping adult occupants. Wrong tenant named, missing required statutory language, or improperly served notices all defeat the case.
• Requesting a default judgment too early under the old 5-day rule. You cannot request a default judgment until the 10-court-day response period expires.
• Skipping or mismeasuring the relocation payment on a no-fault eviction. When you terminate a tenancy for no-fault just cause under AB 1482, you owe the tenant one month's rent as relocation assistance. This is not optional and it is not negotiable. The timing requirements are strict and missing the deadline is expensive.

About LeaseHelper: LeaseHelper builds AI-powered lease, eviction, and rental document generators for small landlords and property managers, and publishes guides on landlord-tenant law, security deposits, and evictions.