Wrenn v. Sutton

SHAW, P. J.

This is an appeal by the plaintiff from a judgment entered after the sustaining of a demurrer to the complaint in an unlawful detainer proceeding by which plaintiff seeks to recover the possession of certain housing accommodations occupied by defendant as his tenant.

The only question presented by the appeal is whether the notice which, the complaint alleges, the plaintiff gave to defendant to terminate her month-to-month tenancy is sufficient for that purpose. That it complies with the provisions of California law is not disputed, but defendant contends that it does not satisfy the requirements of the O. P. A. Rent Regulation for Housing (8 Fed. Register 7322) issued pursuant to the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942. We have already held that a complaint in unlawful detainer which does not show the service on the tenant of a notice sufficient to comply with that regulation fails to state a cause of action.

(Lester

v.

Isaac

(1944), 63 Cal.App.2dSupp. 851 [146 P.2d 524].)

The regulation above mentioned provides, in section 6(d) (1), that: “Every notice to a tenant to vacate or surrender possession of housing accommodations shall state the ground under this section upon which the landlord relies for removal or eviction of the tenant. ” In order to comply with this requirement, a notice must state all the elements necessary, under the regulation, to constitute a ground for removal of a tenant and if it omits any of these elements it is insufficient.

(Lester

v.

Isaac, supra.)

What, then, are the grounds referred to in the above quoted part of the regulation, and what constitute their elements?

*Supp. 825

They are, of course, to be found in section 6, from which the quotation is taken. This section begins in subsection (a) with the provision that, “So long as the tenant continues to pay the rent to which the landlord is entitled, no tenant shall be removed from any housing accommodations, . . . unless”: . . . Then follow six numbered paragraphs, interconnected by the conjunction “or,” each of which sets forth a set of facts, conditions or events. The plaintiff here is undertaking to proceed under the sixth of these paragraphs, which reads as follows: “(6) The landlord owned, or acquired an enforceable right to buy or the right to possession of, the housing accommodations prior to the effective date of regulation (or prior to October 20, 1942, where the effective date of regulation is prior to that date, or prior to November 6, 1942, for housing accommodations within the Hastings Defense-Rental Area), and seeks in good faith to recover possession of such accommodations for immediate use and occupancy as a dwelling for himself. If a tenant has been removed or evicted under this paragraph (a) (6) from housing accommodations, the landlord shall file a written report on a form provided therefor before renting the accommodations or any part thereof during a period of six months after such removal or eviction.”