Most people have a general idea of what an eviction is, but adding the word constructive turns it into a technical-sounding term with all sorts of complications. Put simply, a constructive eviction is a case where the landlord doesn’t actually remove their tenant from their home, but they might as well have done so. To explain a bit more clearly, we’ll look at the two terms and go back to the very first examples of this concept in legal history.

Eviction is the process of taking away possession of a piece of real property, such as a home, from the person occupying it, usually to be reclaimed by the owner. To legally evict a tenant, a landlord must follow a process defined by law. In California, this process is called an unlawful detainer action. This process requires the landlord to give some form of notice to the tenant and then filefile a complaint in court. If the landlord wins their case, then the sheriff comes to the property and removes the tenant so the landlord can change the locks and retake possession. If the landlord doesn’t follow this process, there are different names someone might use.

A constructive eviction is one where the landlord’s actions don’t directly remove the tenant from the property, but still result in the tenant having to leave. The landlord isn’t actually going into the apartment and throwing the tenant out, locking the door, or showing up with a baseball bat and ordering them to leave,, for example. Instead, the landlord may do things like stop making repairs when the tenant calls to report something that the landlord is obligated to fix, begin visiting without proper notice to inspect the property, or refuse to enforce lease terms against neighbors who are doing something dangerous. Each of these things prevents the tenant from getting the benefit they paid for: a home they can occupy in peace.

It might be easier to explain what a constructive eviction is by pointing to what is not: an actual one. Instead of being a literal act, it’s an act or failure to act that leads to the same thing. The landlord does something improper, which makes the tenant’s remaining in the property uncomfortable or unsafe enough that they must leave. If they are forced out, then they have constructively been evicted.

The oldest examples of this sort of behavior were extreme. Landlords would sometimes remove roofs or doors from buildings to force tenants to move out. More commonly these days, they do things like changing the locks or turning off utility service.

Deciding whether a landlord has crossed the line into behavior that qualifies as constructive eviction is a highly fact-specific analysis. Talking to an attorney can be extremely helpful in determining what has been done and what to do about it. The team and Peregrine Law Group can help with this, but regardless of where you go, we encourage you to seek out help to protect your rights.