California Civil Code 789 lets a landlord end a tenancy at will by giving the tenant at least 30 days’ written notice to leave. Its companion, Section 789.3, is where the real teeth are: it makes it illegal for a landlord to force a tenant out by cutting utilities, changing locks, or removing belongings, and it lets the tenant sue for damages, a daily penalty, and attorney’s fees. Together the two sections say the same thing from opposite directions. A landlord can ask a tenant to leave, but only a court and a sheriff can make them.
What Section 789 Says About Ending a Tenancy
Section 789 is short. To end a tenancy at will, the landlord must deliver written notice, following the service procedure in Code of Civil Procedure Section 1162, giving the tenant at least 30 days to vacate.1California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code 789 – Termination of Estates That is the entire operative rule. Nothing in Section 789 authorizes a landlord to physically remove the tenant, take back the unit, or shut anything off. If the tenant stays past the 30 days, the landlord’s next step is an unlawful detainer lawsuit, not action of their own.
What Section 789.3 Forbids a Landlord From Doing
Section 789.3 is the statute most people are actually looking for when they search for Civil Code 789. It bans three categories of landlord conduct when done with the intent to push a residential tenant out.
- Shutting off utilities. A landlord cannot directly or indirectly cause the interruption or termination of any utility service, including water, heat, light, electricity, gas, telephone, elevator service, or refrigeration.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
- Blocking access. Changing locks, installing a bootlock, or using any similar device to keep the tenant out is prohibited.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
- Removing doors, windows, or belongings. Taking off exterior doors or windows, or hauling the tenant’s personal property out of the unit without prior written consent, violates the statute. The narrow exception is the formal abandoned-property procedure under Civil Code Sections 1980 through 1991, which only applies after the tenancy has ended and the unit is empty.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
These bans apply no matter what the tenant has done. Owing rent, ignoring an eviction notice, or violating the lease does not give the landlord permission to skip the courts. The California Department of Justice has stated that a landlord cannot force a tenant out under any of those circumstances without a court order.3California Department of Justice. Protecting Tenants Against Unlawful Lockouts and Other Self-Help Evictions
Intent is the pivot. Section 789.3 requires a willful act aimed at getting the tenant to leave. A landlord who accidentally causes a service interruption through negligence has not violated the statute.
The Only Legal Way to Remove a Tenant
If a tenant will not leave voluntarily, the landlord’s sole lawful path is an unlawful detainer action. The California Courts’ self-help materials estimate the process takes roughly 30 to 45 days or more.4California Courts. The Eviction Process for Landlords The landlord serves a written notice appropriate to the reason (a 3-day notice to pay or quit for unpaid rent, a 3-day notice to cure or quit for a lease violation, or a 30- or 60-day notice to end a month-to-month tenancy depending on how long the tenant has lived there),5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1161 files a complaint in superior court, and, if the court rules in their favor, receives a writ of possession. Only a sheriff, marshal, or their deputies can carry out that writ and physically remove the tenant.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1174.3
No property manager, no hired hand, no landlord acting alone has the authority to execute an eviction. Skipping any step and reaching for a lock or a utility shutoff is what triggers everything in the next two sections.
Legitimate Entry and Service Interruptions
Section 789.3 does not stop a landlord from running the building. Civil Code Section 1954 governs when a landlord may enter. Entry is allowed to make necessary or agreed-upon repairs, supply agreed services, or show the unit to prospective buyers or tenants. The landlord must give reasonable written notice stating the date, approximate time, and purpose of the visit, and 24 hours is presumed reasonable. Entry generally has to occur during normal business hours unless the tenant agrees otherwise. Emergencies like a fire, gas leak, or burst pipe require no notice, and neither does entry after the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the unit.7California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1954
The same logic covers brief service interruptions. Shutting off water for two hours to fix a pipe is maintenance. Shutting off water for two weeks to make the unit unlivable is a Section 789.3 violation. The line is drawn by whether the interruption is brief, necessary, and unrelated to any effort to push the tenant out. Section 1954 also bars a landlord from abusing the right of access or using it to harass a tenant.7California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1954
What a Tenant Can Recover
A tenant whose landlord violates Section 789.3 can sue and stack several categories of recovery in one case.
- Actual damages. Any provable financial loss, such as hotel stays, spoiled food from a utility shutoff, or damaged belongings.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
- A statutory penalty of up to $100 for each day (or partial day) the violation continues, with a guaranteed floor of $250 per separate cause of action. If a landlord shuts off the water on Monday and changes the locks on Thursday, those are two separate violations, each carrying its own $250 minimum.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
- Injunctive relief. The tenant can ask the court to order the landlord to restore access or turn the utilities back on while the case is pending.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
- Attorney’s fees. The court must award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party. This cuts both ways: a landlord who successfully defends could recover fees from the tenant, so it is worth thinking through the claim carefully before filing.2California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 789.3
These remedies are not exclusive. A tenant can also pursue any other legal claim that fits the facts, such as breach of the implied warranty of habitability or intentional infliction of emotional distress. The statutory penalty is a floor on recovery, not a ceiling.
Criminal Consequences and Calling the Police
Self-help evictions are also a criminal matter. Under Penal Code 418, using or encouraging force or violence to enter or hold someone else’s property, outside the methods allowed by law, is a misdemeanor.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 418 Under Penal Code 602.5, entering or remaining in a dwelling without the consent of the person in lawful possession is a misdemeanor, and if the resident is home during the incident the charge escalates to aggravated trespass, punishable by up to one year in county jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.9California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 602.5
The California Department of Justice has issued guidance directing officers to treat lockouts as criminal matters. Officers are instructed never to help a landlord remove a tenant, to tell the landlord that forcing a tenant out is a misdemeanor, to order the landlord to let the tenant back in, and to write a report even when no arrest is made.3California Department of Justice. Protecting Tenants Against Unlawful Lockouts and Other Self-Help Evictions If you have been locked out, calling the police is often the fastest way back inside. Bring whatever proof of residency you have: an ID showing the address, a utility bill, mail with your name on it, or a neighbor who can confirm you live there.
Retaliation After You Assert These Rights
Tenants often worry that reporting a landlord will lead to a rent hike or a retaliatory eviction. Civil Code Section 1942.5 addresses that head-on. For 180 days after a tenant complains to a government agency about habitability, reports a code violation, or exercises any legal right under the landlord-tenant chapter, a landlord may not raise the rent, reduce services, or attempt to evict the tenant.10California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1942.5
The statute also specifically treats threats to report a tenant to immigration authorities as prohibited retaliation, whether the underlying protected activity was a habitability complaint, tenant organizing, or the peaceful exercise of any other legal right.10California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1942.5 If a landlord responds to a Section 789.3 complaint by trying to punish the tenant, that response itself is a separate violation with its own consequences.