§ 1174.27.Unlawful Detainer Proceeding; Documentation Evidencing Abuse Or Violence; Affirmative Defense

This section applies only when three things line up: the case involves residential property, the complaint includes a cause of action based on abuse or violence against a tenant or the tenant's family or household member, and a defendant has raised the affirmative defense described in § 1161.3(d)(2). When those conditions are met, the court must decide whether documentation supports the claim of abuse or violence — and if it doesn't, the defense is denied.

If the documentation does support the claim, and the defendant raising it isn't otherwise guilty of an unlawful detainer, that defendant and any other occupant not found guilty aren't guilty of unlawful detainer, aren't named in the landlord's judgment, and owe the landlord nothing tied to the case — no holdover damages, court costs, lease termination fees, or attorney's fees.

But if a different defendant is shown to be the actual perpetrator and is guilty of unlawful detainer, the court doesn't just let that person off with the rest of the household. It must order a partial eviction: removing and barring the perpetrator from the unit, without terminating the tenancy itself, and requiring the landlord to change the locks and give the remaining occupants a new key. Only the perpetrator can be held liable for damages, costs, or fees in that scenario. The court also has discretion to permanently bar the perpetrator from the property or to condition the tenancy on the remaining occupants not inviting the perpetrator back, weighing any custody or visitation orders along the way. None of these findings count as a finding that someone committed abuse, violence, or a crime in any other proceeding.