Self-Help Eviction, Harassment, and Retaliation in California

What it requires

• Never interrupt utilities, change or bootlock the locks, remove doors or windows, or remove a tenant’s belongings to end an occupancy. Possession comes only through a lawful eviction.
• Don’t use force, threats, menacing conduct, a significant and intentional violation of the entry rules, or threats about immigration status to push a tenant out. A good-faith warning about a lease violation is allowed.
• For 180 days after a tenant’s good-faith repair notice, habitability complaint, inspection, or related court case, don’t evict, raise rent, or cut services in retaliation. A tenant current on rent can invoke this once in 12 months.
• Acting within that window is allowed if the notice states the good-faith ground, which you must prove if it is disputed.
• Retaliating because a tenant organized or joined a tenants’ association, or reporting or threatening to report a tenant to immigration authorities, is also illegal. Lease waivers of these rights are void.

Owner checklist

• Use the court process for every possession case, even when rent is owed
• Leave utilities, locks, and belongings alone during a dispute
• Log each habitability complaint and its date
• State the lawful ground in any notice served within 180 days of a complaint