We are in this together. This is how it works:
You answer some questions about your eviction and debt situation. We help you fight your eviction and your rent debt, link you with legal resources and tenants’ rights groups, and our housing justice work including collective action campaigns. Let’s get started. Step 1: What best describes your situation?
I’ve been served eviction papers in California and I want to fight my eviction! (Only if you have already received a Summons and a Complaint-Unlawful Detainer)
I owe my landlord back rent debt and I want to understand my situation, get some legal help, and organize with others in this situation.
UPCOMING MEETINGS & TRAININGS
Are you in the Los Angeles Area and looking for help with using the toolkit?
Attend our in-person Tenant Power Toolkit workshops in downtown Los Angeles. You can get one-on-one help (in English and Spanish) with using our Tool to respond to your eviction case - internet-capable devices are provided. RSVP here or by calling (323) 207-5854.
You must bring your SUMMONS and COMPLAINT - UNLAWFUL DETAINER documents with you. You cannot get legal advice or representation at these workshops - we can only help you use the Tenant Power Toolkit to create your answer and other initial documents, the first step in fighting your eviction.
Are you in California and want to learn more about the toolkit and your rights?
Attend one of our upcoming meetings, listed below! We have frequent Tenants Rights Workshops where we give a broad overview of tenants rights in California, discuss how the eviction process works, and discuss how we can work together to keep people in their homes. We also host monthly trainings where we comprehensively walk lawyers and organizers through the Tenant Power Toolkit.
Tenants Rights Workshop
In Spanish every 1st and 3rd Monday of the Month at 6pm
In English every 2nd and 4th Monday of the Month at 6pm
Attend an online Tenants’ Rights Workshop for California tenants to learn about how the eviction process works and what you can do after filing your Answer.
Toolkit Training Call
First Wednesday of Every Month, 3 PM:
Our monthly, online Tenant Power Toolkit Training Calls are aimed at California tenant organizers, counselors and lawyers who want an in-depth overview of how to use the Tenant Power Toolkit to prepare Answers to Unlawful Detainers.
What is the Tenant Power Toolkit
The Tenant Power Toolkit is a collaborative effort between the The Debt Collective, The LA Tenants Union, The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, anti-eviction lawyers and legal service providers including Gary Blasi, one of California’s best known housing justice lawyers. We designed this toolkit to keep people in their homes, fight evictions, fight rent debt, and build the collective power of tenants. Together, we have the power not only to fight back against the system, but to change it.
Know your rights
All Tenants have the right to live in a home that is both safe and sanitary.
A landlord cannot lock you out, remove your belongings, shut off your utilities, forcibly enter your home without notice or harass you into leaving your home. If the COVID-19 pandemic has affected your economic situation, new laws may protect you from eviction or offer some protections from owed rent.
The Tenant Power Toolkit is not a legal aid organization. We cannot represent anyone or give anyone legal advice in their eviction case.
How we use and protect your personal data
YOUR DATA BELONGS TO YOU!
When using this toolkit, you will be asked for some information about your eviction and your rent debt, depending on your situation. We will use this information to file a legal defense to eviction, help organize against rent debt, and build tenant power. With your consent, we would like to share some of your information with social justice organizations including the LA Tenants Union and the Debt Collective, and with researchers devoted to housing justice. You will have the opportunity to decide on consent when you use the tool.
Disclaimer
This Tool is being provided as a free public service and we have done our best to insure that it works for all users as they intend. However, we cannot guarantee that the documents this Tool generates and that we may attempt to file electronically on your behalf will be accepted by the Court before the deadline for filing (10 business days after service of the Summons and the Complaint-Unlawful Detainer). If your documents are not accepted by the Court as timely filed, you are at risk of losing your case by default. By using this Tool, you agree to assume the risk that your documents will not be timely filed or accepted. If you do not want to accept that risk, you can print out the documents and file them with the Court in person at the courthouse identified in the Summons and Complaint before the courthouse closes on the 10th business day after you were served with the Summons and Complaint.
Tenant Power Toolkit is an effort from:
