Residential Evictions In California How Much Will It Cost

The price of residential evictions in California has been steadily increasing over the past ten years. But dont blame the lawyers. Our fees have stayed the same; all of the other associated costs have been growing up around us like weeds.

The total cost of an eviction is composed of two elements: the attorneys fee and essential litigation costs paid to third parties for such things as filing fees, service of process, and lock-out charges. Right off the bat, youll have to incur charges for the courts filing fee and the process servers charge for serving the lawsuit on the tenant or tenants. The current filing fee for an eviction case in California is $220.00 if the rent owed is $10,000 or less. Most residential evictions fit into that category. If the rent owed is over $10,000.00 but less than $25,000.00, the filing fee goes up to $345.00. If the rent owed exceeds $25,000.00 (hopefully, youll never be in such a situation), the filing fee increases to $355.00.

The cost of service of process depends upon the number of known adult occupants living at the premises. Every known adult occupant must be named in the lawsuit and served with it regardless of whether he signed, or is listed as a tenant on, the lease. In a typical case where there are two known adult occupants (the husband and wife or unmarried couple), you can expect the process serving charges to total $140.00. Therefore, in the most common case (rent amount $10,000.00 or less, two known adult occupants), the filing fee and service of process charges will total $360.00.

One digression at this point, you may have come across advertisements-usually from non-lawyer eviction companies although some attorneys also do it- offering low-cost evictions for $199.00" or some other ridiculously low number. Such advertising is misleading. An eviction in California cannot be done for that amount. The filing fee alone is more. Look closely at the advertisement and youll see the words plus costs. When you add in the costs, the low cost eviction jumps up to over $700.00.

Worse, since eviction companies arent lawyers, if the tenant contests and trial is necessary, youll have to hire a lawyer or use the one that the eviction company provides at an additional cost. In such instance, the price of the low cost eviction increases to around $900.00, about the same that youd have to pay to retain a lawyer from the start.

Additionally, look carefully at what services the eviction company provides for the supposed low-cost. Often times, the only service that the eviction company provides is to start the case, i.e., to do the initial filing. If the tenant then contests, youre on your own. With some eviction companies, they dont even handle the default if the tenant doesnt contest. In either event, youll have to hire a lawyer at additional expense.

Back to cost. After you win youre case, youll have to enforce your judgment with a lock-out. A lock-out is when the sheriff goes to the premises and physically removes the tenant and restores possession to the landlord. In California, the cost of a lock-out is $150.00 for the sheriffs charge and the writ of possession. Thus, for a typical eviction case, the costs for filing fees, service of process and lock-out will generally run around $510.00. That amount can be higher depending upon the number of adult occupants or the past due rent.

Last, but not least, is the small matter of the fee to be paid to the hard working attorney. Most attorneys fees, for uncontested cases, is less than the costs. In San Diego where I practice, you can expect to pay, generally speaking, around $400.00 flat rate for attorneys fees in an uncontested case and an additional $300.00 for attorneys fees if a trial is necessary. Some attorneys will not do a flat-rate fee for evictions after foreclosure, eviction of Section 8 tenants, eviction for a reason other than non-payment of rent or lease expiration, or cases where the tenant is represented by a lawyer. In such instances, the lawyer will charge by the hour. In San Diego, the hourly rate for eviction attorneys varies between $200.00 and $300.00 per hour depending upon the lawyers experience and level of expertise.

Most eviction cases are for the non-payment of rent, the tenants are unrepresented, the amount in controversy is under $10,000.00, there are two adult occupants, and either no trial occurs or there is a trial but the tenant does not have a lawyer. In such a case, you should expect to pay between $800.00 and $1,100.00 total for costs and attorneys fees to take the eviction case all the way through judgment and lock-out.