Tenants Have Options to Delay Eviction, Including a Jury Trial

In a typical landlord-tenant relationship, the landlord wants the rent paid or the tenant evicted, and has well respected property rights to lease and use the real property.  The tenant also has rights, and may want to pay as little rent as possible, or none at all, and remain in the property as long as possible to avoid the universally recognized displeasure of moving.  An option available to a tenant who wants to remain in the premises as long as possible, preferably without paying rent, is the tenant can request a jury trial in the unlawful detainer action (UD Action) filed by the landlord. 

Although most UD Actions are defaults by the defendant or end in a trial by the judge, the California Constitution guarantees tenants the right to a jury trial.  The tenant's request for a jury trial may delay the trial because of the lack of court time for a jury trial, the need to summon and pick a jury, agree on jury instructions, and the other necessary preparations for a jury trial.

The typical process if the tenant does not pay the rent or is given an eviction notice and refuses to vacate the premises, is the landlord files a UD complaint, and it is given preferential treatment in the setting of the trial (within 20 days after the demand for trial is filed), which the landlord normally prefers to be a court trial (decided by the judge alone).  This early trial setting is the California Superior Court's recognition of the landlord's valuable right to have the property returned to him, or a vindication of the tenant's defenses and claims, as expeditiously as possible, and special Superior Court departments exist that handle the typical UD Action so they can be quickly resolved.

Some tenants are not only judgment proof (meaning they have no assets to satisfy a money judgment against them), but they can also claim no employment and minimal earnings sufficient to qualify for a fee waiver by the court ( the lowest appearance fee by a defendant is $240 for the majority of residential premises claims of $10,000 or less).  Some tenants can file a request for a fee waiver, and demand a jury trial, without the need to pay an appearance fee of $240, or post jury fees of $150, or pay for the jury during the trial (normally the responsibility of the party demanding the jury).

Knowing the leverage provided by the tenant's demand for a jury trial, some tenants or law firms they hire, may demand a sum of money from the landlord, such as $5,000, as a condition for the tenant moving out without the delay in eviction.  From the perspective of the landlord, not only is the tenant occupying the premises without paying rent, but the UD Action is costing attorney's and court costs.  It is a tempting option for the landlord to pay the $5,000, or other sum, for the tenant's vacating the premises by a set date.  Such settlements should be in writing signed by all parties to the dispute or legal proceeding, and the settlement sum should be held in an escrow account or paid after the tenant has vacated the premises.

In fashioning a defense and to provide more possibilities for success at trial, some tenants may file complaints with Los Angeles City housing department about the habitability of the premises.  If there are uninhabitable conditions (for example, leaky roof, no electricity or water, or pest infestation), such complaints are valuable because such conditions legally excuse the tenant from paying rent.  If the housing department issues the landlord a notice to repair or correct, and the landlord attempts to correct the unlawful condition, the tenant may interfere with the corrective attempts by the landlord who is trying to comply with the notice from the housing department.  If the landlord persists in the efforts to comply with the housing department notice, some tenants will claim harassment by the landlord with their right to quiet enjoyment of the premises, and may file a separate legal action for the damages they claim the harassment by the landlord caused them.

A tenant can also serve requests for information to the landlord, which are called discovery, to increase the landlord's legal fees.  In this type of combative UD Action, the tenant can delay the eviction at no cost, while the landlord is unable to recover possession of the premises and also incurs increasing amounts of attorney's fees and costs.

If the rental agreement provides for the recovery of attorney's fees by the prevailing party, a successful tenant may delay eviction, pay no costs or fees, and recover attorney's fees from the landlord.  An attorney may agree to represent the tenant and only be paid from the attorney's fees collected from the landlord, not by the tenant, who may not have any money to pay the attorney.  For this reason, landlords should consider language in the lease that limits the recovery of attorney's fees in any legal action to a minimal sum such as $500, so there is less incentive for an attorney to represent the indigent tenant on a contingency basis because of the inability to recover significant attorney's fees.

If the lease provides for the recovery of attorney's fees and the landlord loses at the trial and has little change to prevail on appeal, the landlord should consider paying the judgment as expeditiously as possible because the tenant's attorney can request additional attorney's fees for enforcing the judgment with post-trial legal proceedings.

This article is not meant to be encouragement for tenants to not pay rent and delay eviction, nor a pessimistic description of the possible outcome for landlords.  It is intended to generally describe some of the issues involved in a UD Actions for the reader who may be a tenant or a landlord, and both tenants and landlords can benefit from legal counsel in such situations so they understand their legal rights.

This is not intended as legal advice and does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship and is general information only.