The cop was right. Deep-blue California not only has a complicated, tenant-favoring eviction process that can stretch out a tenant’s rent-free stay for several months of delayed hearings, but its “adverse possession” laws can give squatters ownership rights if they live on the premises long enough and comply with certain legal requirements. Serial evictees hopping from premises to premises are a common phenomenon in the ultra-liberal but ultra-pricy Bay Area.
Abel now found herself in California landlord hell, especially since Peritz was allegedly suggesting he might file a libel suit for badmouthing him on SabbaticalHomes. She also discovered that a New York City couple who had sublet their apartment to Peritz in 2015 came close to suing him over what they claimed was unpaid rent, broken furniture, missing paintings and severe floor damage. An anonymous website titled “David Peritz—Unlawful Detainer” popped up. She cut short her sabbatical and moved into an upstairs bedroom across the street so she could watch him and his pickup truck. She hired a private investigator who found tax liens and a prior eviction action against Peritz from another house in Berkeley.
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