You come home and your key doesn’t turn. Or the power is off and the utility company tells you the account was closed by the property owner. Or your belongings are stacked at the curb.
In California, all three are illegal — and none of them become legal just because you are behind on rent, your lease expired, or your landlord has already started an eviction. A landlord who takes matters into their own hands instead of going through the courts has committed what the law calls a self-help eviction, and California treats it as a serious wrong with its own penalties, its own attorney’s fee award, and its own emergency remedies.
Here is what the law actually says, and what to do in the first 48 hours.
What Counts as an Illegal Lockout
The controlling statute is California Civil Code §789.3. It prohibits a landlord, acting with intent to terminate your occupancy, from:
- Willfully interrupting or terminating utility service — water, heat, light, electricity, gas, telephone, elevator, or refrigeration — whether or not the utility is under the landlord’s control
- Preventing your access by changing the locks, adding a lock, or otherwise blocking entry
- Removing outside doors or windows
- Removing your personal property from the unit
That last category catches a lot of conduct landlords assume is permissible: boxing up a tenant’s things during a “cleanout,” putting furniture in storage, or moving belongings to the garage while the tenant is at work.
A related statute, Civil Code §1940.2, covers a different set of tactics aimed at the same goal — using force, willful threats, or menacing conduct that interferes with your quiet enjoyment; committing a significant and intentional violation of the entry-notice rules in Civil Code §1954; or threatening to disclose a tenant’s or a household member’s immigration status. That statute carries a civil penalty of up to $2,000 per violation.
Willfully cutting off utilities can also be prosecuted as a misdemeanor under Penal Code §418.
The excuses that don’t work
None of the following make a lockout lawful:
- “They stopped paying rent.”
- “The lease was already over.”
- “I gave them a 3-day notice.”
- “I already won the eviction case.” — Only a sheriff or marshal with a writ of possession may remove a tenant. A judgment is not self-executing.
- “They abandoned the place.” — California has a specific statutory procedure for abandoned property. Guessing is not it.
- “It’s my building.”
What to Do in the First 48 Hours
1. Photograph everything, with timestamps
The new lock or hardware. The door. The utility meter or panel. Where your belongings were and where they are now. Wide shots that establish the unit and the address, not just close-ups. Your phone’s photos carry date and time metadata — leave it intact, and do not screenshot and delete originals.
2. Call the police or sheriff — and get the report number
Officers in Los Angeles and Ventura counties treat lockouts inconsistently; some will tell you it is a civil matter, and some will require the landlord to let you back in on the spot. Either way, make the call and write down the incident or report number. A contemporaneous, third-party dated record of the lockout is worth a great deal later, and it is very hard to recreate after the fact.
3. Do not surrender the keys and do not sign anything
Landlords sometimes offer cash, a “mutual termination,” or a release in the moment. Signing can convert an illegal lockout — a strong claim — into a voluntary move-out. Take the paper, decline to sign it, and show it to a lawyer.
4. Preserve your written record
Every text, email, voicemail, and note from the landlord or manager, including anything sent before the lockout. Threats and demands made in the weeks leading up to it establish intent to terminate your occupancy, which is an element of the §789.3 claim. If service was disconnected, call the utility company and ask for written confirmation of who ordered the shutoff and when.
5. Keep every receipt
Hotel bills, restaurant receipts because you had no kitchen, replacement clothing and medication, storage fees, pet boarding, rideshare costs from a temporary location, spoiled groceries, and lost wages for time you missed dealing with it. These are your actual damages and they are recoverable.
6. Call a lawyer the same day
Speed genuinely matters here. A court can order the landlord to restore your access on an emergency basis, and the statutory penalty accrues for every day the violation continues.
What You Can Recover
Under Civil Code §789.3(c), a landlord who violates the statute is liable for:
- Your actual damages — everything in the receipts list above
- Up to $100 for each day, or part of a day, the landlord remains in violation, with a floor of $250 per separate cause of action
- Attorney’s fees — the statute says the court shall award reasonable fees to the prevailing party
- Injunctive relief — a court order restoring your access
Depending on the facts, additional claims often stack on top:
- Civil Code §1940.2 — up to $2,000 per violation for threats, menacing conduct, illegal entry, or immigration-status threats
- Conversion and trespass to chattels — for property taken or destroyed
- Emotional distress damages — for the fear, humiliation, and disruption of being put out of your home
- Punitive damages under Civil Code §3294 where the landlord acted with malice, oppression, or fraud
- Los Angeles Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance — for units in the City of LA, a private right of action with civil penalties, actual and emotional distress damages, and attorney’s fees
- Rent differential — if the lockout pushed you out of a rent-controlled unit and into the current market, the difference between the two rents can be recoverable over years and is often the largest single item in the case
Why the fee-shifting provision matters
Tenants routinely assume they cannot afford to sue a landlord. The legislature anticipated that. Because §789.3(d) requires the court to award fees to a prevailing tenant, these cases can be brought by tenants with no money to put up front — which is exactly the point of the statute.
Lockouts Are Usually the Easiest Landlord Misconduct to Prove
Most disputes between tenants and landlords turn into arguments about competing versions of events. Lockouts generally do not. A changed lock is a physical fact. A utility shutoff has a paper trail at the utility company. Removed property leaves an empty room and, often, a storage receipt in the landlord’s name.
That evidentiary clarity is why self-help eviction cases tend to resolve well for tenants — and why a landlord’s own conduct in the days after the lockout, particularly refusing to restore access after being told the law, so often supports a punitive damages claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
My landlord changed the locks but says I can get my things back. Is that still illegal?
Yes. Denying you access to your home is the violation. Offering to return your property later does not cure it, and the daily penalty continues to run for as long as you are locked out.
What if I actually am behind on rent?
Owing rent is not a defense to an illegal lockout. The landlord’s remedy for unpaid rent is a 3-day notice followed by an unlawful detainer action. Your claim under §789.3 exists independently — and your rent debt does not offset the statutory penalties, though a landlord may of course pursue the rent separately.
The landlord shut off only the hot water. Does that count?
Yes, if it was done willfully with intent to terminate your occupancy. Section 789.3 lists heat, water, and light among the covered services, and partial or intermittent interference is still interference.
How long do I have to file a lockout claim?
It depends on the claims involved — statutory, property, and personal injury claims carry different limitations periods, and some run from as little as two years. Because evidence disappears and the daily penalty stops accruing once you are restored to the unit, there is no good reason to wait.
Locked Out? Call Today.
If your landlord has changed your locks, shut off your utilities, removed your doors or windows, or taken your belongings, you have real remedies — and they work best when used quickly. Contact Cohen, Cohen & Cohen for a free consultation. We represent tenants throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and you can also read more about our tenant rights and wrongful eviction practice.
This article is general information about California law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Consult an attorney about your specific situation.
