Does a landlord need a reason to evict a tenant?
Under general California law, a landlord does NOT need a reason to evict a tenant; a landlord can evict a tenant for any reason or for no reason. However, landlord cannot evict a tenant for a discriminatory reason, such as because of a tenant’s race, color, sex, sexual orientation, or disability. In addition, a landlord cannot evict a tenant to retaliate against the tenant for reporting problems in the unit to a government agency. Finally, IF a unit is covered by a local rent control, a landlord can only evict a tenant for a reason listed in the rent control law, such as the landlord wants to live in the unit.
The laws vary so much state to state, but the bottom line is that the landlord owns the property and if he decides that he wants to rent it out to his brother, even though you have been paying your rent on time, every single month for years and have never been a bother, s/he can give you a notice to vacate.
