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employer-employee relationship was terminated, the occupancy would end.” “An essential
element of an unlawful detainer predicated on termination of the defendant tenant’s
employment is that the employment expired or was otherwise ‘lawfully terminated.’ (Code
Civ. Proc., § 1161(l).) . . . [I]f the tenant can show that termination of her employment was in
retaliation for legal activities, then she would have a valid defense to the unlawful detainer
action.” The court found that Rosales had not met her burden of producing evidence sufficient
to show that the termination of her employment was unlawful or retaliatory. Accordingly,
Rosales was not entitled to reside at the premises post termination.
The court found that Charlemagne did not create a separate leasehold with plaintiff, but
rather took possession of the premises as an additional occupant pursuant to the terms of
Rosales’s resident manager’s agreement. Accordingly, his occupancy was dependent on
Rosales’s employment and once Rosales’s employment ended, he was no longer entitled to
reside at the premises.
The court ordered judgment entered in favor of plaintiff and against defendants, awarded
plaintiff possession and restitution of the premises, canceled the rental agreement and forfeited
the lease agreement.
Defendants timely appealed the judgment.
DISCUSSION
Rosales’s Occupancy was Dependent on Her Employment as Resident Manager
Defendants’ contentions on appeal are entirely premised on their position that they were
tenants. However, the facts adduced at trial, including defendants’ own testimony, make it
abundantly clear that they were not.
Applicable Law
An unlawful detainer occurs when a person remains in possession of property after the
expiration of the term for which it is let to him. This can occur not only in a standard landlord-
tenant situation but also in a case where the person “. . . became the occupant of the premises as
a servant, employee, agent, or licensee and the relation of master and servant, or employer and
employee, or principal and agent, or licensor and licensee, has been lawfully terminated.”
(Code Civ. Proc., § 1161, subd. (1).)