Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I suggest you obtain and read the portions of the Code of Civil Procedure mentioned below, and/or get yourself one of those self-help paperback books covering how to prepare and win your small-claims action in California.

Code of Civil Procedure section 116.340(f) says "the owner of record of real property in California who resides in another state and who has no lawfully designated agent in California for service of process may be served by any of the methods described in this section if the claim relates to that property."

This basically makes mail service by the court clerk, or personal service by process server or a sheriff, possible. See CCP 116.340(1), (2), (3) and (4).

If the defendant fails to appear, you can and probably will get a default judgment, which you can record as an abstract of judgment. This creates a lien on the real property which accrues interest at 10% simple a year. Someday they will want to, or have to, pay the judgment, unless they have no equity whatsoever in the condo.