You can evict someone without a lease in California, but you have to treat them as a tenant and follow the same legal process you would use for anyone else. Once a person lives in your property and pays you rent, state law treats the arrangement as a month-to-month tenancy, and that tenancy can only be ended through written notice and, if the occupant refuses to leave, a court order.
Paying Rent Creates a Tenancy
Accepting periodic rent payments is what triggers a month-to-month tenancy under California law, whether or not anything was ever put in writing.1California Department of Real Estate. California Department of Real Estate Reference Book Chapter 9 The tenancy renews automatically each rental period, and the occupant has the full legal status of a tenant.
That has practical consequences. You cannot tell the person to be out by the weekend. You cannot change the locks, move their belongings to the curb, or shut off the power. The eviction process for a tenant without a lease is the same as the process for a tenant whose written lease expired and rolled over to month-to-month.
Start With the Right Written Notice
Every eviction begins with a written notice. Which notice you use, and how much time it gives the tenant, depends on why you’re ending the tenancy.
No-Fault Terminations
When the tenant hasn’t done anything wrong and you simply want the tenancy to end, you need a 30-day written notice if the tenant has lived there less than a year. Once the occupancy hits one year, the required notice jumps to 60 days.2California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.1 – Termination of Periodic Tenancy
At-Fault Terminations
When the tenant has broken the deal, shorter notices apply. For unpaid rent, a 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit must state the exact amount owed, name the person who can accept payment, and give either a mailing address or an account number for payment.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1161 – Unlawful Detainer Leave out any of those details and the notice can be thrown out, forcing you to serve a new one and restart the clock.
A 3-Day Notice to Perform Covenants or Quit covers other violations, such as an unauthorized pet or subletting without permission. The tenant gets three days, not counting weekends and court holidays, to fix the problem or leave. For serious matters like illegal activity on the premises, a 3-Day Notice to Quit gives no option to cure.
When Just Cause Is Required
The Tenant Protection Act of 2019 adds a significant layer for most California tenants who have occupied a unit for 12 months or more. Under this law, you cannot end the tenancy for any reason you like; the eviction must rest on a specific “just cause.”4California Legislative Information. AB 1482 – Tenant Protection Act of 2019 At-fault grounds include nonpayment of rent, criminal activity, and lease violations. No-fault grounds include the owner or a close family member moving in, or a substantial renovation that requires the unit to be vacant.
For no-fault evictions under this law, you must either pay the tenant relocation assistance equal to one month’s rent or waive the final month’s rent before it comes due.4California Legislative Information. AB 1482 – Tenant Protection Act of 2019 Skipping the relocation payment invalidates the termination notice.
Not every property is covered. Single-family homes and condominiums may be exempt if the owner has given the tenant a specific written notice of exemption. Owner-occupied duplexes and certain newer construction are also excluded. And many California cities have their own just cause ordinances that impose stricter local rules on top of state law.
Filing the Unlawful Detainer
If the tenant hasn’t moved out by the time the notice period ends, you can’t remove them yourself. The next step is filing an unlawful detainer lawsuit in the superior court for the county where the property sits.
Once the case is filed, the tenant has to be formally served with the court papers. After personal service, the tenant has 10 court days to file an Answer, not counting weekends or court holidays.5California Courts. Summons-Unlawful Detainer-Eviction If the tenant was served through substituted service, meaning papers were left with another person and mailed, the response window stretches to 20 calendar days after mailing.
A tenant who doesn’t respond at all opens the door to a default judgment, which lets the court grant the eviction without a trial. If the tenant does respond, the case moves fast: the court must schedule a trial within 20 days of a party’s request to set one.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 1170.5 – Trial Timeline The judge can extend that deadline if both sides agree or if there’s good cause.
After You Win
A judgment in your favor doesn’t put you back in possession by itself. The court issues a Writ of Possession, and the sheriff’s office serves the tenant with a Notice to Vacate giving them five days to leave voluntarily.7California Courts. After the Eviction Trial Decision If the tenant is still there after those five days, the sheriff comes back to physically remove them.
A contested eviction in California usually takes about five to eight weeks from start to finish, assuming nothing goes sideways. An uncontested case can move faster, but even a default requires the court to process paperwork and the sheriff to schedule the lockout.
Don’t Change the Locks
This is where landlords get themselves into real trouble. California law prohibits self-help evictions. You cannot change the locks, shut off utilities, remove the tenant’s belongings, or take doors or windows off their hinges to pressure someone into leaving.8California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code 789.3 – Prohibited Acts by Landlord These rules apply whether or not the person has a written lease.
A landlord who breaks these rules is liable for the tenant’s actual damages plus up to $100 for each day the violation continues, with a guaranteed minimum of $250 per incident. The tenant also gets attorney’s fees, and a court can order the landlord to restore access immediately.8California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code 789.3 – Prohibited Acts by Landlord Locking someone out for even a week can rack up well over $1,000 in statutory penalties before you even reach the tenant’s actual damages.
Evicting a Lodger
Removing a lodger follows a shorter path. California defines a lodger as a person renting a room in a home where the owner also lives and keeps access to all shared areas. The streamlined rule applies only when there is one lodger in the home.9California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.5 – Termination of Hiring of Room by Lodger
The owner ends the arrangement by giving written notice at least as far in advance as the rental payment period. For a monthly arrangement, that’s 30 days. If the lodger doesn’t leave after the notice period, their right to remain is terminated by law and they become a trespasser. At that point the owner can call law enforcement to remove them without filing an unlawful detainer suit.9California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 1946.5 – Termination of Hiring of Room by Lodger With two or more lodgers, the shortcut doesn’t apply and you’re back on the standard eviction track.
What About Someone Who Never Paid Rent?
Not every unlawful occupant is a rent-paying tenant. A common situation involves a family member, friend, or partner who moved in with permission but never paid rent. California treats these people as licensees. The owner can revoke that permission at any time by giving reasonable written notice.
Squatters who entered without any permission are trespassers and don’t have tenant protections, including the protections of just cause eviction. The practical reality is messier than the legal theory, though. If someone has been living there for a while, law enforcement may refuse to treat it as a trespass and tell you to file an unlawful detainer instead. The safer play, even with someone who never paid a dime, is to serve written notice to quit and, if they refuse to leave, go through the court. Physically removing someone yourself exposes you to the same penalties as an illegal lockout.
Federal Rules That Can Change the Picture
Two federal laws can affect an eviction even without a written lease. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and familial status, and it covers verbal and informal rental arrangements alongside written ones.10U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act Selectively terminating month-to-month tenants along a protected characteristic can trigger a federal discrimination claim.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act blocks landlords from evicting active-duty military members or their dependents without a court order, so long as monthly rent stays under a threshold that the Department of Defense adjusts each year (set at $10,239.63 as of 2025).11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress If military service has materially affected the servicemember’s ability to pay, the court must grant a delay of at least 90 days. Knowingly evicting a protected servicemember without a court order is a federal misdemeanor.