Did you get an eviction notice in California? Don’t leave yet. Follow these steps

Tenant protections put in place during the coronavirus pandemic are ending around the country, and increasing the potential for nonpayment-based evictions. A recent pulse survey from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that millions of American households are concerned they may leave their home due to eviction in the next few months.

In California, the statewide eviction moratorium ended Sept. 30. That means starting this month, landlords can issue eviction notices for nonpayments. Those notices are typically issued as a three day, pay or quit notice both nailed to the door and sent via mail, according to Tina Rosales, an attorney and policy advocate with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

“We are getting an uptick in nonpayment of rent evictions, and those are three-day evictions to pay the rent or to leave,” Rosales said.

If you didn’t pay October rent or you’re worried you may miss upcoming rent payments, The Sacramento Bee talked to experts about how to avoid eviction. First, don’t panic. Here’s what to do instead:

I got an eviction notice on my door. Does that mean I need to leave?

No, in fact, that eviction notice is only the beginning of the process. You should not leave.

“For a person to be forced to leave their home, there has to be a full court eviction, so there has to be a judgment from the court that says you have to leave, a sheriff is going to come within five days after this judgment you have to go,” Rosales said. “If that does not happen … that person should not leave.”

Landlords can’t take you to court until 20 days after they issue the eviction notice.

If you are concerned about your landlord potentially pressuring you to leave or changing locks, you should make sure to carry documents like a utility bill on your person that prove your residency, Jia Min Cheng, a supervising attorney at Disability Rights California with the Housing Stability Project, said. That way you can call law enforcement for help getting back into your home. Make note of any kind of harassment you endure from your landlord.

You should also inspect the notice itself. It is supposed to include the amount of rent demanded, the date each amount became due, the phone number and website for the appropriate rental assistance program and instructions to apply for rental assistance within 15 days. Cheng said sketchy notices — like something written by hand, or a notice that doesn’t list the correct amount of money owed — can be used against a landlord in court eventually.

“The landlord has the burden of proof in these eviction court cases, so their mistakes have more consequence and the tenant gets to stay if the landlord makes significant enough mistakes in the process for eviction,” Cheng said.

Apply for rental assistance

The next critical step is to apply for rental assistance. After the eviction notice is filed, you have 15 business days to apply. Landlords are supposed to apply as well, but Rosales said they often don’t.

In Sacramento County, emergency rental assistance is distributed locally through a program run by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. In order to qualify in Sacramento County, your household’s gross annual income must be at or below:

• $50,750 for one person
• $58,000 for two people
• $65,250 for three people
• $72,500 for four people
• $78,300 for five people
• $84,100 for six people
• $89,900 for seven people
• $95,700 for eight people

Applicants must also have one household member that qualifies for unemployment benefits or has experienced financial burdens related to COVID-19. To apply, you need one form of identification, your lease or other proof that you’re renting your home, documents from your landlord showing what you owe, current utility bills showing what you owe and documents showing all current household income for the past two months.

In other parts of California, the state manages distribution of assistance. To apply, go to HousingIsKey.com.

Get legal aid

Aside from applying for rental assistance, the best step you can take during this process is to get legal assistance or hire an attorney. Rosales cautioned against making contact with a landlord at all unless you have a lawyer present after you’ve been given an eviction notice.

You can find assistance at LawHelpCA.org, which guides users to resources based on location and need. You can call services like Disability Rights California-Sacramento at 800-776-5746 and Legal Services of Northern California at 866-815-5990 for advice.

Be careful about talking to your landlord, Cheng and Rosales said. While Cheng said open communication, and particularly communication in writing, with landlords is important and can potentially lead to resolutions before formal court intervention, you don’t want to get into a situation where your landlord talks you into moving out unnecessarily. That’s why it’s best to at least get legal advice before talking with your landlord about resolving the dispute.

Respond to the summons and complaint

The next step a landlord would take is to file a court case against you called an unlawful detainer. The landlord has to serve you with papers called a Summons and Complaint. Renters will get a copy of that document, which will be filled with everything the landlord alleges the tenant owes.

You have five days, excluding weekends and holidays, to file what’s called an Answer. This is where you can talk about any issues with the notice or other problems in the landlord’s complaint against you as well as write up your defense, which would include your application for rental assistance. You need to file this Answer in order to avoid being evicted automatically without trial.

Go to all your court dates

If you receive a court date, make sure to go and bring copies of everything, Rosales said. That includes documentation showing you’ve applied for rental assistance, documentation showing the status of your application, copies of financial distress declarations, copies of any communication you’ve had with your landlord, plus any other pertinent information.

“Really what a person is there to show to the court is that I have this application in, it’s either pending, complete, or the check is being given out and approved,” Rosales said, therefore, “You can’t evict, because you’re going to get your money.”

If an application for assistance is in the system — even if that check hasn’t been distributed yet — the judge has to put a pause on the case. Rosales said she’s hearing it sometimes takes six to eight weeks to get rental assistance checks because California is currently experiencing by backlogs. Make sure you don’t promise to pay rent by a certain date based on the assumption that you’ll have your assistance check by then.

I followed all the steps. Now what?

If you got your rental assistance check and paid your landlord, the landlord is supposed to ask for the case to be dismissed. But sometimes they don’t, Rosales said, so tenants should go to their next court date with documentation showing they’ve paid. Then, the judge will dismiss the case. Once this happens, your record will be unblemished — it will be like the eviction issue never happened, Rosales said.

More to know

Landlords have to use rental payments for the current month’s rent unless the renter agrees that that money can be used for past rent due. So if you owe rent for the period covered by the eviction moratorium but are paying rent now, make sure that payment doesn’t go toward your debt unless you want it to.

While renters are protected from evictions for money owed to landlords during the time period covered by the eviction moratorium, renters have to complete a few steps to ensure they are protected. Renters who owe landlords money for the period between March 1, 2020, and Aug. 31, 2020, cannot be evicted for nonpayment as long as they filled out a COVID-19 financial distress declaration each time a landlord requested it.

For rent due between Sept. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, it’s a little more complicated. In order to avoid eviction for money owed due during that time period, renters were required to pay at least 25% of rent due over that period by Sept. 30 in addition to making that financial distress declaration each time a landlord requested it. Landlords can sue in small claims court for remaining unpaid rent for the entire period beginning March 1, 2020, and ending Sept. 30, 2021 beginning Nov. 1.

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This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.