Evictions are the part of owning rental property nobody talks about when they’re running the numbers on a deal. But sooner or later, most landlords face one. And in California, a state with some of the most tenant-protective laws in the country, getting the process wrong doesn’t just slow things down. It can cost you months of rent and thousands of dollars in legal fees you never saw coming.
We work with property owners across Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, and the broader San Fernando Valley, managing around 500 units across single-family homes, multi-family buildings, and commercial properties. We see eviction situations regularly. The owners who come out of them with minimal damage are almost always the ones who followed the steps in order, kept documentation, and didn’t try to shortcut anything.
This guide walks you through exactly how the eviction process works in California, what it actually costs, where landlords go sideways, and a few strategies we’ve seen work better than most people expect.
“$10,000–$15,000+ | contested eviction cost”
In This Guide
Understand Why You’re Evicting Before You Do Anything Else
California distinguishes between “for cause” and “no-fault” evictions, and the reason you’re removing a tenant determines almost everything that follows.
For-Cause Evictions
These include nonpayment of rent, lease violations, unauthorized occupants, illegal activity on the property, and significant property damage. For-cause evictions generally move faster and don’t require you to pay the tenant anything on their way out.
No-Fault Evictions
These happen when the tenant hasn’t done anything wrong but you need them out. Common reasons include moving in a family member, substantial remodeling, or taking the unit off the rental market entirely. No-fault evictions in California carry their own requirements, and depending on where your property sits geographically, you may owe the tenant relocation assistance.
For properties in areas covered by the LA County Rent Stabilization Ordinance, including parts of unincorporated neighborhoods near North Hollywood and Northridge that fall within our management footprint, landlords can owe anywhere from one to three months’ rent as relocation assistance before the unit is even empty. At an average rental rate of $4,000 a month, that’s a potential $4,000 to $12,000 obligation you need to plan for.
Know Which Laws Apply to Your Specific Property
This is where Burbank landlords trip up more than anywhere else. Burbank does not have its own local rent stabilization (rent cap) ordinance, but it does have a Tenant Protection Ordinance that provides just-cause eviction protections for covered residential tenants. State law, specifically AB 1482, is your primary framework.
AB 1482, which took effect on January 1, 2020, caps annual rent increases at 5% plus local CPI with a statutory maximum of 10% for covered units; the currently operative cap (August 1, 2026–July 31, 2027) is 8.8%. It also requires just cause for eviction on properties that are 15 years old or older, provided the tenant has lived in the unit for at least 12 months. If your property qualifies and you don’t cite just cause properly in your notice, a judge can dismiss your unlawful detainer case outright.
If you own a multi-unit building in Burbank built more than 15 years ago (i.e., completed before August 2011), AB 1482 almost certainly applies to you. Filing an eviction without the correct just cause language in your notice can get the whole case thrown out, forcing you to start over from scratch.
Pasadena is a different story. If you own rental units there, the city has its own Rental Housing Board with just cause and relocation assistance requirements that sit on top of state law for covered units. Glendale has no local rent stabilization ordinance, but it does have a local Rental Rights Program—effective March 7, 2024—that includes Just Cause Eviction and Relocation Assistance protections; rent increases are governed by California’s statewide AB 1482. And if you’re managing properties in unincorporated pockets of LA County anywhere in the greater San Fernando Valley, you’ll want to verify whether any post-pandemic protections are still active at the local level. The last of LA County’s COVID-era eviction protections expired in early 2024., but it’s worth double-checking for your specific address before you file.
Serve the Correct Written Notice
This is step one of the legal process, and it has to be done in writing. There is no verbal version.
For nonpayment of rent, California law requires a 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit. The clock starts the day after the notice is served. If the tenant pays in full within those three days, the eviction process stops there. If they don’t, you can proceed to file.
For no-fault evictions, the notice requirements depend on how long the tenant has lived in the unit:
- Under 12 months: 30-day written notice to vacate
- Over 12 months: 60-day written notice to vacate
How you serve the notice matters too. California accepts personal delivery, substituted service (leaving it with another adult at the property and mailing a copy), or posting and mailing. Document the method and the date. You’ll need it later.
We worked with an owner who came to us after trying to handle a nonpaying tenant on his own. He verbally told the tenant to leave, figured that was enough, and waited. It wasn’t. Because no written 3-Day Notice was ever served, the eviction clock never started. The tenant stayed an additional six weeks. By the time a notice was properly filed and a UD lawsuit could move forward, the owner had lost roughly $6,000 in unpaid rent, plus legal fees on top of that.
Consider Cash-for-Keys Before Filing in Court
Here’s a take that surprises a lot of landlords: filing the unlawful detainer immediately is sometimes the slower, more expensive path.
A cash-for-keys agreement means you offer the tenant a lump sum, typically somewhere in the $1,000 to $2,500 range, in exchange for them voluntarily vacating within 7 to 14 days and leaving the unit in decent condition. No court dates. No waiting on a judge. No sheriff scheduling.
Compare that to a contested eviction in California, which can run $10,000 to $15,000 in legal fees when a tenant fights back, hires an attorney, or files delays. Add in the lost rent while you’re waiting on the courts, and paying a problem tenant to leave quietly starts looking pretty reasonable.
We don’t recommend this in every situation. But we’ve seen it work well enough times that it’s always worth considering before you pull the trigger on a UD filing.
File the Unlawful Detainer Lawsuit
If the notice period expires and the tenant hasn’t paid, hasn’t fixed the violation, or hasn’t vacated, the next step is filing an unlawful detainer (UD) lawsuit with the court.
In Burbank, eviction cases are filed at the Burbank Courthouse at 300 E. Olive Ave, which operates as part of the LA Superior Court system.
Filing fees run from $100 to $450 depending on how much unpaid rent is at stake. Under $10,000 in claimed rent lands you in a lower fee tier. Over $10,000 triggers a higher one. It’s a small difference in context, but worth knowing before you walk in.
After the tenant is served with the UD, they have 10 court days to file a response with the court. If they don’t respond, you can request a default judgment. If they do respond, a hearing gets scheduled.
One thing to plan for: LA County court backlogs are real. In our experience, unlawful detainer hearing dates often run 3 to 6 weeks past the filing date in Burbank. The full process from notice to lockout commonly takes 2 to 3 months when you account for all the moving parts.
Attend the Court Hearing
If the tenant responds to the UD and the case goes to a hearing, you’ll need to show up prepared.
Bring everything:
- The original signed lease
- Copies of all notices served with documentation of how and when they were delivered
- A rent ledger showing the unpaid balance (we pull these directly from AppFolio, which keeps a clean, timestamped record of every transaction)
- Written communication records between you and the tenant
- Photos or documentation of any lease violations or property damage
The judge is making a decision based on what’s in front of them. Landlords who lose eviction hearings usually lose because their paperwork is incomplete, not because the law was on the tenant’s side.
Get the Writ of Possession
If the judge rules in your favor, you’ll receive a judgment for possession. The court then issues a Writ of Possession, which is the legal document that allows law enforcement to remove the tenant.
This is not something you act on yourself. You submit the writ to the LA County Sheriff’s Department, who handles the physical lockout. Scheduling a lockout appointment with the Sheriff can add another one to three weeks to the timeline.
Changing the locks yourself, removing the tenant’s belongings, or cutting off utilities before the Sheriff executes the writ is a self-help eviction. It is illegal in California regardless of how overdue the rent is. We worked with an out-of-state owner whose previous management company did exactly this. The tenant sued. The owner faced potential liability of $100 per day in statutory damages plus attorney’s fees before they switched to Posh and we helped get everything documented properly.
Watch Out for These Costly Mistakes
Beyond the big ones already covered, we see a handful of recurring mistakes that add weeks and dollars to eviction timelines.
Accepting Partial Rent Mid-Eviction
In California, accepting any rent payment after serving a 3-Day Notice can legally constitute a waiver of that notice, meaning you’ve essentially agreed to a new rental arrangement. The notice becomes void and you have to start the process over. We had a first-time landlord come to us after making exactly this mistake. The delay added nearly 45 days and around $2,000 in extra legal fees.
Ignoring Unauthorized Occupants
This one blindsides multi-family owners fairly often. A named tenant leaves. Someone else is still in the unit. You assume a lockout is simple. It’s not.
If an unauthorized occupant has established residency at the property, California law requires a formal eviction proceeding to remove them, even if they were never on the lease. We’ve seen this situation add 6 to 10 weeks and roughly $3,000 in legal costs to what owners assumed would be a simple turnover.
Skipping Proper Documentation
Anthony, our property manager, walks new owners through our documentation process from day one because a well-documented file is what wins eviction cases. Signed notices, delivery logs, communication timestamps, payment records. All of it lives in the file from the moment a lease is signed, not the moment a problem starts.
What It Actually Costs to Evict a Tenant in California
Let’s put real numbers to it, because most landlords are working off gut estimates rather than actual figures.
| Scenario | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Uncontested eviction (attorney + filing + server) | $1,500 – $5,000 |
| Contested eviction (tenant fights back) | $10,000 – $15,000+ |
| Lost rent at $4,000/month over 2–3 months | $8,000 – $12,000 |
| Relocation assistance (no-fault, RSO areas) | $4,000 – $12,000 |
| Self-help eviction damages (illegal lockout) | $100/day + attorney’s fees |
These numbers are why we always tell owners to treat eviction as a last resort, not a first move. The process works, but it’s expensive either way.
How Professional Management Changes the Equation
The owners who avoid the worst of this are almost always the ones who had someone in their corner from the start. One owner we’ve worked with for a few years now, managing two single-family homes, put it pretty well. He said that what he values most is knowing that if a problem comes up, it gets handled properly and he doesn’t find out about it three weeks later when it’s already a mess.
That’s not marketing copy. That’s just what consistent oversight does. When rent is tracked, notices go out correctly and on time, and documentation is airtight from day one, the eviction process, when it does have to happen, moves faster and costs less.
A first-time landlord who came to us after feeling burned by vague answers and hidden fees at other management companies said that Anthony explained everything clearly from the start. No surprises. That’s the experience we aim for with every owner who joins us.
After the Eviction: Getting the Unit Back Online
Once the lockout happens and the unit is vacant, the clock starts on your next revenue cycle. The faster you move, the less money sits on the table.
A few things to handle immediately:
- Document the unit’s condition with photos and video before touching anything
- Begin the repair and turnover process with your vendors (we coordinate directly with our local trusted contractors in the LA area who know these properties and can turn units fast without cutting corners)
- Update your listing and get it in front of qualified applicants right away
Nicholas, our leasing agent, typically has serious applicants through the door within days of a unit going live. Our vacancy rate across the portfolio sits at 3%, which is well below what most landlords deal with on their own.
When to Call a Professional Before the Problem Starts
The best version of an eviction is the one you never had to file because you had the right tenant in the unit to begin with. Strong screening, clear lease language, and consistent rent collection catch most issues early enough to handle them without court involvement.
We’ve been doing this for 12 years, starting with family properties and building from there. Eviction law in California changes, local ordinances shift, and the Burbank landlord-tenant landscape looks different than it did even a few years ago. Keeping up with all of it is a full-time job on its own.
If eviction situations feel messier or riskier than they should, we’re open to a conversation about how we handle them for the owners we work with.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the eviction process take in California?
A straightforward uncontested eviction in California typically runs 2 to 3 months from the initial notice through the Sheriff’s lockout. In LA County, including Burbank, court backlogs often push unlawful detainer hearing dates 3 to 6 weeks past the filing date, which stretches the timeline further than most landlords expect.
Does Burbank have rent control or a Tenant Protection Ordinance?
Burbank does not have its own local rent control ordinance, but it does have a Tenant Protection Ordinance that provides just-cause eviction protections for covered residential tenants. State law under AB 1482 is the governing framework for most rental properties here. If your building is 15 years old or older and has more than one unit, AB 1482’s just cause requirements and annual rent increase caps almost certainly apply to you.
Can I change the locks if a tenant stops paying rent?
No. Self-help evictions, including changing locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities, are illegal in California regardless of how long the tenant has gone without paying. The only legal way to remove a tenant is through the court process and a Sheriff-executed lockout after a writ of possession is issued.
What is a cash-for-keys agreement and is it a good idea?
A cash-for-keys agreement is when you offer a tenant money, usually somewhere in the $1,000 to $2,500 range, to voluntarily vacate within a set timeframe, often 7 to 14 days. It avoids court entirely and frequently costs less than a contested eviction that can run $10,000 to $15,000 in legal fees plus months of lost rent. It is not the right move in every situation, but it is worth considering before filing.
What happens if my tenant doesn’t respond to the unlawful detainer lawsuit?
If a tenant is served with a UD and does not file a response within 10 court days, you can request a default judgment from the court. A default judgment allows you to move forward to the writ of possession stage without a hearing, which typically speeds up the process considerably.
Do I owe my tenant relocation assistance if I’m evicting them without cause?
It depends on your property’s location and whether it falls under the LA County Rent Stabilization Ordinance. For no-fault evictions in RSO-covered properties, including some unincorporated areas of LA County, landlords may owe tenants one to three months’ rent in relocation assistance before the unit is vacant. At an average rental rate of $4,000 a month in our area, that’s a serious cost to plan for before you serve a notice.
What’s the filing fee for an unlawful detainer in California?
Court filing fees for a UD action in California run from $100 to $450 depending on the amount of unpaid rent being claimed. Cases under $10,000 in claimed rent land in the lower fee tier. Cases over $10,000 trigger a higher filing fee. These figures can change slightly with court updates, so it’s worth confirming current fees with the Burbank Courthouse before you file.