After the Auction: Eviction Timelines in California

The trustee's sale is the moment ownership changes. It is not the moment the house empties.

What follows is a separate legal process with its own requirements, and it is one of the most misunderstood parts of this whole subject. Occupants imagine they must leave that afternoon. New owners imagine they can take possession the same week. Neither is right.

This article describes the shape of the process in general terms. Unlawful detainer law is procedural, detailed, and periodically amended. Verify current law with an attorney, and if you are an occupant, contact legal aid early — this is not a do-it-yourself area.

What the sale does and does not do

At the sale, the property is sold to the highest qualified bidder or reverts to the foreclosing lender. A trustee's deed is then recorded, and the new owner holds title.

Title is the right to the property. Possession is who is physically in it. In an ordinary transaction the two move together because the seller cooperates. In a foreclosure they often do not, and the law provides the mechanism for reconciling them.

That mechanism is a court process. In California, an action to recover possession of real property is called an unlawful detainer, and it is heard by the Superior Court.

The sequence, in stages

Nothing about this happens in a single step, and each stage exists because someone is entitled to notice and an opportunity to respond. That is worth holding onto whichever side of it you are on: the duration is not obstruction, it is the process working as designed.

Whether the occupant is the former owner or a tenant, the general shape is the same, and each stage takes real time.

Written notice. The new owner serves a written notice to quit. The required form and the notice period depend on who is occupying and on what basis, and the requirements differ between a former owner and a bona fide tenant. Those periods are set by statute and change; do not rely on remembered numbers.

Filing. If the property is not vacated, the owner files an unlawful detainer action. The occupant is served and has a defined period to respond.

The court's involvement. A contested case is set for hearing. Defenses exist, including defective notice and, for tenants, the protections applicable to foreclosed residential property. An uncontested case moves faster, but it still moves through the court.

Judgment and enforcement. If the owner prevails, the court issues a judgment for possession, and a writ is delivered to the sheriff, who is the only party who may carry out a lockout, after posting notice.

The whole point of the sequence: only the sheriff removes an occupant, and only after a court has ordered it.

What a new owner cannot do

Locks, utilities and belongings are the three temptations, and all three are unlawful shortcuts in California.

Changing the locks on an occupant, shutting off water or power, removing personal property, or using intimidation to force a departure exposes the owner to serious liability. It also tends to hand the occupant a defense in the very case the owner is trying to win.

Buyers who acquired the property at auction sometimes assume the trustee's deed changes this. It does not.

Where the former owner stands

A former owner is in a different position from a tenant, and the distinction runs through the whole process. The protections built for bona fide renters are not written for the person whose loan was foreclosed, and the notice required tends to be shorter.

That does not mean there is nothing to do. Deadlines can be checked. Notices can be defective. And if the property sold for more than the total debt, there may be money owed to the former owner that has nothing to do with possession at all.

Cash for keys

The alternative most experienced owners prefer is an agreement rather than a judgment: a negotiated payment in exchange for the occupant vacating by an agreed date, leaving the property in agreed condition.

It is often faster and cheaper than litigation, and it is materially kinder. For an occupant, it converts an uncertain outcome into a funded move. Two cautions: put it in writing, and have it reviewed. An occupant signing one is giving up rights, and should know which ones.

For occupants: what to do now

Do not ignore paperwork. Deadlines in an unlawful detainer are short and they are enforced. A notice or a summons that sits unopened costs the occupant the ability to respond at all.

Get free legal help immediately. Legal aid organizations serve Los Angeles County, and the courts publish self-help materials. If you are a renter rather than the former owner, read the protections that apply to tenants, because they are meaningful and frequently overlooked.

And if a sale has happened but the property sold for more than the debt, there may be surplus funds belonging to the former owner. That claim is described here, and it is one an owner can pursue without paying a large recovery fee to anyone.

NO ONE SHOULD PAY AN UPFRONT FEE TO A COMPANY PROMISING TO STOP AN EVICTION.

The better place to be

Everything in this article is downstream of a sale that already happened. The options that preserve value and dignity exist earlier: reinstatement, a workout with the servicer, or a sale on the open market before the sale date.

If you are reading this before the auction rather than after it, go back to the foreclosures guide and start with a free HUD-approved housing counselor instead.

Legal questions belong with an attorney and tax questions with a CPA. Anthony Grynchal has been licensed in California since November 2009.