How Eviction Restrictions Differ in California’s Major Metros

The State of California has essentially set an eviction moratorium by preventing state courts from issuing a summons on any unlawful detainer complaints; however, the details of eviction moratoriums have been largely left up to local jurisdictions. As a result, there is some variance in the guidelines from market-to-market. We took a look at California’s three largest metros to see how they differ.

First up, San Francisco: The Northern California market has limited commercial evictions to small and medium businesses, defined as having less than $25 million in revenue in the 2019 tax year. “Any notice of default that San Francisco landlords serve on tenants must provide at least a one-month opportunity to cure,” Jamie Altman Buggy, an attorney at Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson, tells GlobeSt.com. “During that initial cure period, tenants must either pay the rent or provide documentation showing that tenant is unable to pay rent due to a COVID-19 related financial impact, like a substantial decrease in business income.”

Once the landlord has received documentation of a related financial impact, the tenant and landlord are required to develop a payment plan for the deferred rent. “If they cannot agree to a payment plan, then the tenant may continue to extend the cure period for successive month-long period by providing additional documentation at the end of each month of their continuing inability to pay due to COVID-19 related financial impacts,” adds Buggy. “Tenants can keep obtaining monthly extensions of the cure period for up to a total of six months from the date rent was originally due, during which time landlords cannot evict for non-payment of rent.” After six months of non-payment, landlords can proceed with an eviction.