60 Day notice or 3-Day notice (Los Angeles: lease, eviction, month-to-month)

[Nimni8]

I own a house in CA and lease it to a tenant that is now on a month to month basis. The tenant has been coming up lately every month with different defects in the house as a way to decrease his monthly payments (since he brought technician to fix them despite my request to let me do that).*

On the 30th day of March he sent another letter complaining about the gas cooktop was not working. i ordered the parts online and informed him they are on the way, but today he sent a formal letter saying he wont pay the rent until all defects will be fixed.

I think he is trying to push me to serve him a 3-Days pay or quit notice and then stay at the house for a few more months without paying while he will take me to court to evacuate him.

I am thinking that a better tactic not to fall into his "trap" would be to simply serve him a 60 day notice to end the month-to-month lease (I dont need a reason for that).*During those two month I won't collect probably but at least I will get this guy out of my house and my life.

I read that the legality of 60-Day notice*that unlike other types of eviction, a landlord of a month-to-month lease does not need a specific cause to end the tenancy. However, there are scenarios where the legality of a lease termination is subject to question: if the tenant suspects the landlord is ending the tenancy based on discriminatory reasons; if the landlord ends the tenancy to retaliate against tenant complaints to local government offices or the housing authority.

Do you think this is indeed a better approach? or do you think that the tenant might stay at the house beyond the 60 days, and then after i will start the evacuation process and take him to court, he will claim that I am retaliating? in this case, I might better serve him a 3-day notice and be prepared to go to court.

[Dunbar42]

I think you probably know a tenant cannot withhold rent because of repairs. That could be reason enough to evict him/her. The larger issue sounds like this person is going to cost you more money to keep than get rid of. So I'd figure out the quickest legal way to get rid of them and move on.

You might try searching/posting on the Los Angeles forum. These questions seem to come up more frequently over there.

[Twinkle Toes]

He's on a month-to-month - you don't need to give him a reason. You don't even need to begin eviction proceedings. Just send him a certified letter letting him know he needs to be out by a certain date (beyond 30 days). If you have offered to repair the things that need to be repaired in a timely manner, the tenant should not be witholding rent and you may wish to send a Three Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit, and if he doesn't pay within 3 days, you go forward with your unlawful detainer action.

As far as not having a nightmare on your hands, you might want to go the certified letter route first, then if need be, proceed to the 3-day notice, and the UD action. You may find that the letter works quite nicely and you will not need to resort to those other steps.