As a Los Angeles real estate attorney and, in particular, a Los Angeles eviction attorney, one of the most frequent questions we get is how to respond to an unlawful detainer complaint.  The first thing to keep in mind is your deadline to respond to the complaint.  If the complaint is personally served, which basically means hand delivered to you, then you only have 5 days to respond to the complaint.  As a result, if you are going to hire an attorney, you must immediately begin your search.

Instead, if you plan on representing yourself in the unlawful detainer, you should begin to investigate exactly what you need to do to respond to the complaint.  Much of the unlawful detainer process can be done through the use of forms.  For example, the California Judicial Council website has a series of free forms you can use in your Los Angeles unlawful detainer.  Those forms can be found at http://www.courts.ca.gov/forms.htm.   There you can find the following key forms:

The answer form – UD-105 is the pleading that a tenant needs to file to place the matter at issue.  If the tenant fails to file an answer, then the landlord can take the tenant’s default, which cuts off all rights the tenant has to defend the complaint.  We sometimes recommend the tenant file a motion to strike when there is a defect in the complaint, like an improper attorney verification of the complaint.

For help with your Los Angeles Unlawful Detainer, contact us at Schorr Law, APC.  www.schorr-law.com, info@schorr-law.com, 310-954-1877.