Unlawful detainer: pleadings.

Existing law provides that in any action in which the demand, exclusive of interest, or the value of the property in controversy does not exceed $1,000, the defendant, in lieu of demurrer or other answer, may file a general written denial and a brief statement of any new matter constituting a defense. This bill would exempt specified actions for unlawful detainer from these provisions. Existing law provides that a tenant of real property for a term less than life who continues in possession of the property without permission, after the expiration of the term for which it is let, or after default in the payment of rent, as specified, is guilty of unlawful detainer. Existing law authorizes a defendant tenant to assert certain affirmative defenses in an unlawful detainer action for a residential property, including that the property in untenantable because it substantially lacks specified affirmative standard characteristics or that the lessor has failed to repair dilapidations, as specified. This bill would require, in an unlawful detainer action for default in payment of rent for a residential property in which specified affirmative defenses are asserted, that a defendant set forth and allege specified facts in support of those affirmative defenses in the defendant's answer to the complaint, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council to create a form, on or before July 1, 2016, that may be used by a defendant to assert the facts required by the bill to assert those affirmative defenses to an unlawful detainer action. The bill would delay the operative date of its provisions, other than the requirement that the Judicial Council to create a form, until July 1, 2016.