At the very top of the agreement, in capital letters, it said: LODGER AGREEMENT — OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING — CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE SECTION 1946.5.
Keegan read “lodger” and heard “tenant.”
Most people would.
They are not the same thing.
In California, a lodger is somebody who rents a room, or a room with meals, inside a home where the owner lives. The owner keeps the right to go into every part of the house. The owner keeps control of the whole place.
That’s why there was no lock on Norine’s door.
The special rule only works when there’s one lodger in the house.
That’s why I said one person.
And when a lodger rents week to week, either side can end it with written notice as long as one rent period. One week. Seven days.
That’s why I said week to week.
Then there’s Penal Code section 602.3. Once that notice runs out, a lodger who stays is committing an infraction. The owner can make what’s called a private person’s arrest, and a police officer can help remove the lodger from the home.
No court case. No months of waiting. And it isn’t counted as an illegal lockout.
Now compare that to where I was standing on September 25th. A guest who says “I live here” is a civil matter. That means an unlawful detainer, in court, and months, and a fight about whether thirty days had turned her into a tenant.
The thirty-day rule Darcy kept counting toward was something she picked up on the internet. She never once asked whether it applied.
And the proof that Norine was renting a room from me?
Darcy made it herself. Every Friday. On her own phone.
“Rent week 1 — Mom.”
Darcy wanted paper.
I gave her the only paper in California that comes with a seven-day door.
There was exactly one way to break it.
Darcy’s lawyer must have mentioned it. Because on Thursday morning, Keegan tried.
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