Evictions That Don't Break at Step One
Notice and unlawful detainer service for property managers, landlords, and HOAs across the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire — documented from the first 3-day notice.
Most of the eviction cases we get called in to rescue did not fail at trial. They failed months earlier, at the termination notice, when nobody wrote down exactly how it was delivered. The complaint got filed on a memory, the tenant's attorney asked one question about it, and a case that should have taken weeks turned into a second filing and another month of unpaid rent.
California law has now made that failure mode explicit. Under CCP § 1166 as amended by AB 747, the unlawful detainer complaint must state the specific method, date, time, and location of service of the termination notice. Notice service is no longer background — it is a pleaded element, tested at the beginning of the case rather than at the end of it.
So we serve your notices the way summonses are served: photographed, GPS-stamped, and declared the same day.
The Notice-to-Judgment Chain
An unlawful detainer is a chain, and it breaks at whichever link was handled casually. Each step depends entirely on the one before it being provable.
1. The termination notice
A 3-day notice to pay rent or quit, a 3-day notice to perform covenants or quit, or a 30-day, 60-day, or applicable just-cause notice depending on the tenancy. We serve all of them, log the method and the exact time, photograph the door, and return a declaration you can hand to counsel. The notice period then runs before anything can be filed.
2. The complaint — CCP § 1166
The complaint has to describe the notice service on its face: method, date, time, and location. If your record is "we posted it sometime that week," you cannot plead it accurately, and a defect at the pleading stage is the cheapest possible win for the other side. Our declaration supplies the language directly. The full set of changes is in our AB 747 guide.
3. Summons and complaint on everyone in the unit
Named tenants first, by personal delivery where possible, plus the adult occupants who are actually living there. An occupant who was never served is the classic reason a judgment does not clear the unit and the whole exercise restarts. How the fallback methods work is covered on our unlawful detainer page.
Filing Locations Changed in March 2026
As of March 3, 2026, Los Angeles Superior Court assigns limited-jurisdiction unlawful detainer cases to all courthouses rather than the old designated hubs. The zip-code hub tables still sitting on competitor websites and in a lot of office binders are obsolete.
Confirm with the LASC Filing Court Locator, or ask us — we serve San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire properties daily and track where cases are actually landing.
Built for Portfolios, Not One-Offs
Per-property records. If you manage forty units across six buildings, you do not want one undifferentiated invoice and a shoebox of proofs. Every address is opened as its own job with its own attempt history and documentation, so when a case is questioned two years later you can pull that unit's file rather than reconstruct it.
Batch turnarounds. Send the month's notices together and they go out together, each one served, photographed, and declared individually. The same loop runs on the UD side once the notice period expires.
Spanish-speaking servers. A tenant who understands what they were handed argues less at the door and appears more often at the hearing. Our servers explain the general nature of the documents in English or Spanish, which is also what CCP § 415.20 requires when substituted service is used.
Gate access under CCP § 415.21. Registered process servers who show identification and state their purpose must be admitted to gated communities during daylight hours for a reasonable period when the residence sought is inside. That matters at your properties and at the ones your tenants move to.
Predictable cost. Per-serve pricing, the additional-occupant fee, and posting-and-mailing rates are all published on our pricing page. No gated quotes.
General information, not legal advice.
What We Serve for Property Managers
Questions Landlords Ask Us
General information, not legal advice.
Notices Going Out This Month?
Send the batch. Every unit documented separately.
Useful for Landlords
Serving notices this week?
Photographed, GPS-stamped, and declared the day it happens — so your complaint can plead it.