California landlords often feel as if the legal deck is stacked against them regarding evicting problem tenants and those who don’t pay their rent on time. The passage of AB 2347 into law more than doubles the time defendants have to respond to landlords’ demands that they vacate the property.
Prior to its passage, defendants had five days to respond to the complaint after service. Now, that period has been extended to 10 business days.
Fewer default judgments awarded
The concern has been that defendants lacked the time to arrange for legal representation at their hearing. As a result, the courts handed down default judgments against the defendants. By legislators extending the length of time to respond and tweaking the process in other areas, some landlords are finding it much harder to evict problem tenants.
By giving them additional response time and other relief, more defendants are retaining counsel to represent them in their eviction proceedings.
Why this matters to landlords
Previously, many landlords were awarded default judgments by the courts because the defendants failed to retain counsel or even show up for the hearing. Thus, default judgments became the norm rather than the exception.
Another prong of the new law is that, in some circumstances, tenants can give oral responses at some hearings related to the eviction process.
Options for landlords
Some landlords are just learning about these new changes that began back in January. Staying abreast of all laws affecting landlord and tenant issues is a good idea. You may also want to loop in your legal counsel to ensure that deadlines are met and all petitions are properly served to defendants.