Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

It depends on whether the property management company has an employee who is a licensed attorney who handles or at least supervises the UD filings. Otherwise, the management company can do all the preliminary work, such as serving the three-day notice, etc., but they cannot file court proceedings. That would be practicing law without a license.

I agree with Mr. McCormick. These kinds of cases tend to get abused in the unlawful detainer system. The trial judges have been warned not to allow unlicensed property managers to handle the cases for other people (such as owner/landlords) but it does go on.