The Importance of Serving a Prejudgment Claim of Right of Possession in Unlawful Detainer Cases

Many landlords may not know the importance of having a Prejudgment Claim of Right of Possession served with their unlawful detainer summons and complaint or how this special form prevents delays in the eviction process.

The delay comes after the landlord receives a judgment for possession of the property and the county sheriff goes to the property to notify the tenants of the sheriff’s lockout date. However, unknown to the landlord, the tenants have invited unknown occupants to live on the property who weren’t named in the unlawful detainer complaint or judgment.

If a landlord fails to use the Prejudgment Claim of Right of Possession procedure prescribed under California Code of Civil Procedure § 415.46 at the time the sheriff gives notice of the move-out date to the named tenants, the sheriff is required by law to notify occupants not appearing on the judgment that they have the option to file a Claim of Right of Possession to the property with the sheriff. Should an occupant file a Claim of Right of Possession, the sheriff will cancel the lockout date and a court hearing will be scheduled to determine if the occupant has a right to possession at the property address. Although any occupant filing a Claim of Possession to the property declares under penalty of perjury that they have lived on the property before an unlawful detainer was filed, many occupants file a claim anyway just to buy extra time to delay an eviction.

Utilizing the prejudgment claim of possession procedure prevents occupants from stalling out the eviction process at the last minute. Unknown occupants are forced to file their claims with the court within 10 days of being served the summons and complaint or else the court will enter judgment for possession on all occupants and the sheriff will remove all individuals found on property at the time of the move-out.

So remember to have your registered process server or county sheriff serve a prejudgment claim of possession on all your evictions to prevent delays in regaining possession of your property.