Two recent trends in California have dramatically altered the landscape of “Landlord/Tenant Relationship”; specifically evictions. The first is the skyrocketing real estate market. The second is the rise of ‘room share’ applications like AirBnB and VRBO. What this means is that there is money to be made and both sides, and owners and renters are out to make it. The unfortunate result of this situation is that more and more tenants are being evicted. (See SFGate.com Article by Carolyn Said for more information: Evictions SF) And the already stressed court system is struggling to make sure the rights of both parties are being recognized. A legal surety safeguard called a Writ of Possession Bond is being required by the courts more and more to ensure that the eviction process goes as smoothly and fairly as possible.
The macro situation is this: some people in California are making piles of money in the real estate market right now. Either through selling property at these historic high prices or from acting as landlords and renting their units at previously unseen levels. Compounding this craze is the emergence of short term rental applications like AirBnB and VRBO which create a new and mostly unregulated market. The conflicts arise when tenants, seeking to make money off of their extra rooms or when they are on vacation, violate lease agreements prohibiting short term rentals. In increasing numbers, landlords then take steps to evict tenants and/or take possession of tenants property to satisfy claims. This is where the aforementioned Writ of Possession and Writ of Possession Bond comes in to play.
As defined by ExpertEvictions.com, a Writ of Possession is, “A document issued by the court after the landlord wins an unlawful detainer. The writ of possession is served on the tenant by the sheriff. The writ informs the tenant that the tenant must leave the rental unit by the end of five days, or the sheriff will forcibly remove the tenant.” A Writ of Possession Bond is used if the plaintiff seeks to take possession of property before a judgment is made. In this case, if the landlord wishes to take possession of the real property before the eviction judgment has been finalized. The bond guarantees that if the Writ of Possession is deemed wrongful and that the tenant’s property has suffered undue harm, the defendant be able to collect damages.
As you can see exploding real estate market in California is leading to all sorts of corollary legal issues. And, like a lot of legal issues, they can be quite confusing. If you ever require more information on a Writ of Possession Bond in California, please contact the Surety Bond experts at Jurisco and a knowledgeable member of their staff will be able to answer all your questions.