California Lease Termination

California Lease Termination Forms

California Lease Termination forms can be used when landlords and tenants have mutually agreed to terminate their lease contract. When there is no lease agreement (like in the case of weekly rentals), you can instead use the California Notice to Vacate to inform the other party in advance that you wish to end the tenancy agreement and vacate the premises. California landlords are required to give notice to tenants at least 30-60 days in advance to terminate a month-to-month tenancy.

California Lease Termination - What should I know?

Unlike the California Notice to Quit, which can be used initially to inform the offending party that there is a breach of contract in the lease that you wish to have corrected within a timely fashion, the California lease termination form is a final document that can be used to terminate the California lease contract once both parties have reached an agreement to do so. Upon satisfaction of the obligations set forth in the lease termination agreement, neither the Landlord nor the Tenant have further rights or obligations with respect to the original California Lease Agreement.

All lease termination agreements should include relevant facts pertaining to the California Rental Agreement that is being terminated and the terms that will remain in effect until the lease termination date. This includes the address of the rental property, the agreed upon rent payment, and the date by which the property must be vacant.

California Lease Termination and the California Eviction Process

The California Lease Termination is not the same as the California Eviction Notice. The eviction process for your residential lease begins when a writ of possession is issued by the court in an unlawful detainer lawsuit brought forth by the landlord. The Writ of Possession is a court order authorizing the Sheriff to physically remove a person and all their belongings from the premises and to return possession to the landlord. Eviction comes into the picture once you have terminated the rental agreement and the tenant has remained on the premises beyond the lease termination date.

California Lease Termination - do I have other options?

Before terminating your California Residential Lease, you should consider using a Notice to Quit if you feel like the problem can be remedied. For example, if the tenant has not paid rent, in addition to sending a late rent notice with your property management software, you can serve a 30 day notice to quit or pay rent. This means that the tenant must pay rent within a certain period of time or otherwise vacate the premises by a certain date. If the tenant is able to make the payments on time then the California rental lease will continue as if no notice was ever served. If the tenant is not able to pay they must vacate the premises by the lease termination date. If the tenant remains on the premises beyond this date, then the landlord can bring forth a lawsuit for unlawful detainer.

Be sure to use our tenant screening solution in the future to ensure you get the best tenants and never have to terminate a rental lease ever again! You can also download our free California rental application to gather basic information about prospective tenants and perform a rental credit check.