|
If
you are served with an unlawful detainer
complaint, you should get legal advice or
assistance immediately. Tenant
organizations, tenant-landlord programs,
housing clinics, legal aid organizations, or
private attorneys can provide you with advice,
and assistance if you need it
You
usually have only five days to respond
in writing to the landlord's complaint. You
must respond during this time by filing the
correct legal document with the Clerk of the
court in which the lawsuit was filed. If the
fifth day falls on a weekend or holiday, you
can file your written response on the
following Monday or non-holiday.
Typically, a tenant responds to a landlord's
complaint by filing a written
"answer." (You can get a copy of a
form to use for filing an answer from the
Clerk of Court's office.)
You
may have a legal defense to the landlord's
complaint. If so, you must state the defense
in a written answer and file your written
answer with the Clerk of Court by the end of
the fifth day. Otherwise, you will lose any
defenses that you may have. Some typical
defenses that a tenant might have are listed
here as examples:
-
The landlord's
three-day notice requested more rent than
was actually due.
-
The rental unit
violated the implied
warranty of habitability.
-
The
landlord filed the eviction action in retaliation
for the tenant exercising a tenant right
or because the tenant complained to the
building inspector about the condition of
the rental unit.
Depending
on the facts of your case, there are other
legal responses to the landlord's complaint
that you might file instead of an answer. For
example, if you believe that your landlord did
not properly serve the summons and the
complaint, you might file a Motion
to Quash Service of Summons. If
you believe that the complaint has some
technical defect or does not properly allege
the landlord's right to evict you, you might
file a Demurrer.
It is important that you obtain advice from
a lawyer before you attempt to use these
procedures.
If
you don't file a written response to the
landlord's complaint by the end of the fifth
day, the court will enter a default
judgment in favor of the landlord. A
default judgment allows the landlord to obtain
a writ
of possession (see Writ
of Possession), and may also award the
landlord unpaid rent, damages and court costs.
The
Clerk of Court will ask you to pay a filing
fee when you file your written response. The
filing fee typically is about $106. However,
if you can't afford to pay the filing fee, you
can request that the Clerk allow you to file
your response without paying the fee (that is,
you can request a waiver of the fee). An
application form for a fee waiver, called an
"Application
for Waiver of Court Fees and Costs,"
can be obtained from the Clerk of Court.
After
you have filed your written answer to the
landlord's complaint, the Clerk of Court will
mail to both you and the landlord a notice of
the time and place of the trial. If you don't
appear in court, a default judgment will be
entered against you.
|
