Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Concerned parent

Your landlord can demand payment of everything due at this point, however, if by "this month" you mean April, you have until the end of the day on the 5th to pay that rent. The past-month's 1/2 rent is late. Before he can evict you, he must give you three days notice to pay rent or quit (if he wants to include it all, he can't serve that until the 6th of April). You then have three days in which to pay it all, or thereafter he will file an Unlawful Detainer lawsuit. Once served with that lawsuit, you will have five days to respond. If you file an answer to the lawsuit, its up to the landlord to request and set a trial. At trial, assuming you lose, a judgment will be issued to evict you. That order will get served by the local law enforcement who will give you a final 5 days to move before they lock you out. In all, you have somewhere between a couple of weeks to potentially four weeks before you would have to leave. That being said, riding out an eviction isn't good as it will hurt you in trying to find a new place to live once its on your record. Better to see if you cannot work something out with the landlord. If not, start looking for where you will move quickly. The length of time you have lived there is irrelevant - not paying your rent is going to lead to an eviction unless you voluntarily work something out with the landlord.

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