Caught my tenant running an Airbnb out of my rental property - what are my eviction options in California?

I own a 2BR condo in San Jose that I rent out for $3,200/month. The lease explicitly prohibits subletting and short-term rentals. My neighbor in the building texted me saying there have been "different people coming and going every few days" for months.

I checked Airbnb and sure enough - my tenant has my condo listed at $189/night. The listing has been active since August and has 23 reviews. He's been making probably $4,000-5,000/month off my property while paying me $3,200.

The lease clearly says "No subletting or assignment without written consent" and "Property shall be used for residential purposes only, not for commercial use including short-term rentals."

What are my options here? Can I evict him? Can I sue for the profits he made?

California landlord-tenant attorney here. Let me break this down:

Eviction: Unauthorized subletting is a lease violation, but in California it's typically considered "curable." Under California Civil Code Section 1946.2 and the Tenant Protection Act, you generally must first give a written notice to cure (typically 3 days for lease violations). If the tenant cures the violation by stopping the Airbnb activity, you may not be able to evict for this specific incident.

However, if he fails to cure within the notice period, or if he resumes the activity later, you have stronger grounds for an unlawful detainer action.

Profits: You may have a claim for unjust enrichment or breach of contract for the profits he made. This would be a separate civil action from any eviction.

Screenshot EVERYTHING now before he takes down the listing. Get:

• The full Airbnb listing page with photos
• All 23 reviews (showing dates of stays)
• His host profile
• The nightly rate and any pricing history you can find

Also check if San Jose requires short-term rental registration/permits. Many Bay Area cities do, and operating without one is a code violation. You can report this to the city as well - sometimes municipal pressure helps.

Good call on screenshots - just grabbed everything. San Jose does require STR registration and he definitely doesn't have one (I checked the city's database).

@CA_LandlordAttorney - So if I send a 3-day notice to cure and he takes down the Airbnb listing, I'm stuck with him as a tenant? That seems unfair given he's been doing this for 4+ months and made thousands in profit.

Just want to offer a different perspective here. Yes, the tenant violated the lease. But California has strong tenant protections for good reason. Make sure you follow proper procedures exactly or the eviction could get thrown out entirely.

Many landlords lose eviction cases on technicalities - wrong notice form, wrong number of days, improper service. If you're going to pursue eviction, do it by the book or hire a lawyer to handle it.

@bayarea_landlord_2020 - A few additional options:

1. Non-renewal: If the lease has a fixed term ending soon, you can simply not renew it. Under San Jose's rent control ordinance (the Apartment Rent Ordinance), you need "just cause" for eviction but not necessarily for non-renewal at end of lease term - though this is complex and depends on how long the tenant has been there.

2. Material breach argument: You could argue this was a material, ongoing breach that caused substantial harm (security issues with strangers in building, potential HOA violations, insurance implications). Some courts have found repeated/ongoing unauthorized subletting to be non-curable.

3. Disgorgement of profits: Separately from eviction, sue him in small claims (up to $12,500) or civil court for the profits he made. 4 months x $1,500-2,000 profit = $6,000-8,000 potentially recoverable.

Check your condo's CC&Rs! Most HOAs in the Bay Area now explicitly prohibit short-term rentals. If your HOA has this rule, he's also violating that, and the HOA can fine YOU as the owner. You could then recover those fines from your tenant.

Also - your landlord insurance probably doesn't cover short-term rental activity. If a guest got hurt, you could have been on the hook personally. This is serious liability exposure he created for you.

Just checked the CC&Rs - short-term rentals under 30 days are explicitly prohibited. And you're right about insurance - I called my insurer and they confirmed my policy wouldn't cover any incidents involving short-term rental guests.

The more I dig into this, the worse it gets. This guy has been exposing me to serious liability while profiting off my property.

I think I'm going to consult with an attorney to do this properly. The stakes seem too high to mess up on a technicality.

Smart move consulting an attorney. I'll add one more consideration: some leases have provisions allowing landlords to recover attorney fees for enforcement actions resulting from tenant breach. Check your lease for an attorney fees clause.

Also, the insurance angle is compelling. His actions potentially voided your coverage, which could be framed as creating a material risk that makes continued tenancy unreasonable. This strengthens the "non-curable" argument.

Had a similar situation in Oakland last year. My tenant was running an Airbnb out of my duplex. Here's how it played out:

I served a 3-day notice to cure. He took down the listing but I found out from neighbors he was still doing it off-platform (Craigslist, etc). Served another notice, this time for repeated violation. Went to court, showed the pattern of behavior, and the judge ruled in my favor.

Total time from first notice to him actually being out: about 4 months. California evictions are slow but doable if you have good documentation.

Good discussion. A reminder that California landlord-tenant law is very jurisdiction-specific. San Jose, Oakland, SF, etc. all have different local ordinances on top of state law. What works in one city may not work in another.

OP, please update us on how this develops. These real-world outcomes are valuable for others.

Update for those following:

Hired an attorney who sent a formal notice combining: (1) 3-day notice to cure the subletting violation, (2) notice of lease violation for HOA rules breach, and (3) demand letter for disgorgement of profits plus reimbursement of potential HOA fines.

The tenant took down the Airbnb listing within 24 hours. A week later, his attorney reached out to negotiate. Long story short: he agreed to terminate the lease early (moving out end of January), pay me $5,000 in "settlement" for the unauthorized profits, and waive any claims against me.

Not the full profit amount but I'm getting him out without a lengthy eviction battle, and I get a clean break. Already have a new tenant lined up for February at $3,400/month.

Lessons learned: document everything, know your local laws, and sometimes a negotiated exit is better than a court fight.