Proving Your Case

DO YOU WANT TO WIN IN COURT? – PROVE YOUR CASE!

We cannot win or secure a good settlement without evidence. Go through your entire house and gather every single document, photograph, video, text message, or email that relates to your tenancy since day one. Bring them with you for your Step 10 meeting. A good result depends on you!

BACKGROUND AND RENT LEVEL

  • All rental agreements with all landlords.
  • If you have a rent-stabilized unit, bring receipts to show illegal rent increases and proof that you pay utilities.
  • All notices and letters to and from all landlords.

STAFF:  Verify there are no illegal rent increases.

DISCRIMINATION/REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

If there is a connection between your case and a disability, ask for a Reasonable Accommodation.

  • Housing Rights Center 800-477-5977.
  • Fair Housing Foundation 800-466-3247.
  • Fair Housing Council San Fernando 818-373-1185.

 IF YOU PAID THE RENT

  • Copies of the front and back of checks showing they were cashed. You must order them right away because it takes time for the proof to arrive.
  • Copy of the money order stub or receipt.
  • Carbon copy of check (DON’T remove from the register).
  • Proof you mailed the rent payment.
  • Evidence of agreement to pay after the notice period.

OWNER/FAMILY/MANAGER MOVE-IN

  • Evidence of empty units in the building.
  • Evidence of other units owned by the landlord.
  • Evidence that the landlord tried to evict you, buy you out, or raise your rent before filing this eviction.
  • Evidence that the owner tried to evict another tenant or buy off another tenant.
  • Evidence that the proposed occupant is not moving in.

YOU OWE THE RENT

If you want to move, we can likely get you time to move and a forgiveness of the rent. BUT you do owe the rent until you give up the unit, even if the landlord refused to accept it and even if you have a judgment in a prior case for $0 rent.

Save the rent plus what it will cost for new housing.

Buy cashier’s checks or money orders from your bank, Continental Express, or Western Union every month as it becomes due. Do not use other money order companies. Make a copy. Separate the stub/receipt and keep all three in a safe place. If you lose both, you can’t get your money back.

To avoid an eviction or a new case being filed, pay as instructed in any 3-day notice. If instructed to pay by mail, send priority mail with delivery confirmation (no signature required).

Bring your rent in certified funds to court if you want to stay. If your case is dismissed or you win by judgment, you must pay your rent immediately.

WASTE/DAMAGE/HOARDING/NUISANCE

  • Picture of the condition in the notice.
  • Old pictures of the same condition.
  • Proof that you cleaned up within the notice period.
  • Current picture of the condition.
  • Receipts of repairs or cleaning supplies.
  • Receipts for a storage unit.
  • If it’s about a specific nuisance incident, evidence of that. It did not happen or did not happen as stated in the notice (usually witnesses), and/or that you were not home when the incident happened (see Non-Service).

PROOF OF OWNERSHIP

You can be evicted by the owner or by the person or entity that leased to you. If the Plaintiff is not the Lessor on your lease, get a certified copy of the deed for the property. Go to the Recorder’s office located at:

  • 12400 Imperial Hwy., #227, Norwalk 90650, 562-462-2133.
  • 1701 S. La Cienega Blvd., 6th Floor, LA 90045, 310-727-6142.
  • 14340 W. Sylvan St., Van Nuys 91401, 818-374-7191.

Call for hours. Make sure it is stamped “certified.”

UNAUTHORIZED PET

  • Written permission to have the pet.
  • Proof you had the pet from the start of the tenancy.
  • Proof the owner knew you had the pet.
  • Old pictures of the pet in the unit.
  • Letters you gave to the landlord about the pet.
  • Proof your pet is licensed.
  • Veterinarian bills and/or proof of immunization.
  • Proof that the pet was removed or rehomed.
  • Proof that it is an emotional support or service animal.

CONDITION OF YOUR UNIT

  • Got bad conditions? Request an inspection of your unit:
    • LA Housing Department: Call 311.
    • LA Building & Safety: Call 311 – 201 Figueroa St., 1st Floor.
    • Your City’s Code Enforcement Agency: 211/411.
    • Health Department: 888-700-9995.
    • Get the inspector’s card and CERTIFIED copies of all reports with a stamp on all the pages. For some cities, we can do this for you through a CPRA request.
  • If it’s an illegal unit, get a certified copy of a Certificate of Occupancy with a stamp on all pages.
  • Take pictures of the following at least weekly from now on.  Make sure you know the date it was taken. Print the best shot for each day, preferably on 8.5 x 11 paper. Your home must look clean and neat!
  • Of repairs needed in your unit.
  • Of the outside to show failure to maintain common areas.
  • To show an illegal configuration (illegal unit).
  • To show only one electric meter (illegal unit).
  • Of all walls of the laundry room, common areas, and mailbox area, to prove the absence of required notices.
  • Lay roach motels or rodent traps and photograph daily until full; replace them to show the frequency with which animals fall.
  • Receipts for all repairs you made.
  • If it moves (flooding, dripping faucet, vermin), take a video.

PROOF SOMEONE LIVES SOMEWHERE

(Unauthorized Occupants and Pre-Judgment Claims)

If you are trying to prove someone lives in the unit or lives somewhere else, you need lots of examples, dating from the date you are trying to prove to the present, with the person’s name and the address.

  • A lease with the person’s name on it.
  • Notices from the landlord with the person’s name.
  • Letters to and from the person about the person.
  • Utility bills in the person’s name.
  • Voter registration for the person.
  • Driver’s License or ID with the address on it.
  • Tax records with the address on them.
  • Car registration with the address.
  • Car insurance listing the person at that address.
  • Bank statements and other bills with their address.
  • School records proving a child lived in the house.
  • Lots of letters with postmarks and the address.
  • Photos of the person in the unit (i.e., birthdays).
  • Birth certificate.
  • Marriage certificate.
  • Pictures of where people sleep.
  • Pay stubs with the address.
  • Medical records with the address.
  • Immigration documents with the address.
  • Hotel bill to prove they moved out within 3 days.

SPECIAL LOCAL PROTECTIONS

24 jurisdictions in the County of Los Angeles have special protections called either Rent Stabilization Ordinances, Just Cause Ordinances, Urgency Ordinances, or Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinances. If you live in one of these jurisdictions, and your unit is covered, the owner must follow specific requirements, and failure to do so can be a defense to eviction. In addition to limiting the reasons to evict you and the ability to raise the rent, this can include the duty to register the unit and, in some cases, to give you specific notices or to post notices on common area walls or to pay you interest on your security deposit. If you live in one of the following jurisdictions, make sure your Answer raises the defenses and that you get evidence of any violations. 

Baldwin Park, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Commerce, Cudahy, Culver City, Gardena, Glendale, Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles – City of Los Angeles - Unincorporated County, Maywood, Montebello, Pasadena, Pomona, Santa Monica, South Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Westlake Village. For mobile homes only: El Monte, Palmdale.

WITNESSES

We need the names and phone numbers of everyone who has personal knowledge of your side of the story. Personal knowledge means that they saw it with their own eyes or heard it with their own ears.
This includes people who live in the unit, including minors, friends who have visited, neighbors, and inspectors.

Even if they don’t want to testify, please give us their names so we can add them to the witness list. If you don’t put them on the list now, you may not be allowed to add them later. If they’re on the list now, you can always decide not to have them testify.

Tell us if your unit has been inspected. Subpoena any inspectors.

If your unit has a special local protection, list the Person Most Knowledgeable about the law and subpoena them.

If required notices are not posted, subpoena your neighbors.

UNREGISTERED/INOPERABLE VEHICLE

  • Proof that the vehicle runs. Example: Videotape of the vehicle being driven with the license plate showing.
  • Current DMV registration. Proof of any mechanical work recently done to the vehicle.
  • Proof that you removed it within the notice period.

NON-SERVICE

  • Evidence that you were not home when the landlord says that you were served the [ ] notice or [ ] summons.
  • If at work: pay stubs, timesheets, witnesses.
  • If shopping: receipts, witnesses.
  • If traveling: boarding pass, receipts, and hotel.

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