California Civil Code Section 789.3 bars a landlord from using self-help to push a tenant out. The landlord cannot shut off utilities, change the locks, remove exterior doors or windows, or take the tenant’s belongings when the goal is to end the tenancy outside the court process. A tenant whose landlord does any of these things can sue for actual damages plus up to $100 for every day the violation continues, with a guaranteed minimum of $250 per violation, and the court must award reasonable attorney fees to the winning side.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 789.3
The Four Prohibited Acts
The statute spells out specific conduct, not a general standard. A landlord violates it by doing any of the following with the purpose of terminating the tenancy:
- Interrupting or cutting off a utility service the tenant uses. The statute lists water, heat, light, electricity, gas, telephone, elevator service, and refrigeration, and it applies whether or not the landlord controls the account.
- Changing the locks, installing a bootlock, or using any other device or method that keeps the tenant from reasonably getting into the unit.
- Removing exterior doors or windows.
- Taking the tenant’s personal property or furnishings out of the unit without written consent, outside the separate legal process for abandoned property.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 789.3
The common thread is the landlord acting on their own, outside the court system, to make the unit unusable or inaccessible.
Willful Conduct Aimed at Ending the Tenancy
Not every lockout or outage triggers liability. The statute requires two things together: the landlord acted willfully, and the landlord’s purpose was to terminate the tenant’s occupancy. A burst pipe at midnight is not a violation. Neither is the utility company cutting service over an unpaid bill the landlord did not control.
In a dispute, timing often does the work. Water shut off two days after the tenant reports a code violation, locks changed the morning after a rent argument, a door pulled off its hinges following a complaint to the city — each of those sequences lets a court infer purpose. A landlord with a clean, independent explanation (a documented repair, a utility company shutoff for cause) has a factual defense because the interruption was not the landlord’s willful act.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 789.3
What You Can Recover
A tenant who wins a 789.3 case can collect three kinds of money and ask the court for an immediate order fixing the situation.
Actual damages. These are your real out-of-pocket losses caused by the violation. Hotel bills after a lockout. Spoiled groceries after a power shutoff. Meals you had to buy because the gas was off. Anything you can tie to the landlord’s conduct and prove with a receipt or testimony.
Statutory damages. On top of actual damages, the court can award up to $100 for each day, or part of a day, the violation continues. The law guarantees a floor of $250 per separate cause of action even if the violation lasted less than three days.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 789.3
Attorney fees. The court must award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. For tenants, this is often what makes a case economically viable, because a lawyer can take it knowing the landlord will cover fees if the tenant wins. The fee-shifting cuts both ways, though. A tenant who loses can be ordered to pay the landlord’s fees.
Injunctive relief. A tenant can ask the court to order utilities restored or access returned right away, rather than waiting months for a full trial. In a true lockout, this is usually the first thing to request.
Each Separate Violation Stacks
Repeated or subsequent violations that are not part of the original incident are treated as separate causes of action. Each one carries its own $250 minimum and its own daily penalty calculation. A landlord who shuts off the electricity, restores it after a complaint, and shuts it off again a week later owes two separate awards, not one running tally. The same logic applies when a landlord does two different things on the same day, such as cutting the water and changing the locks — those are two violations, two minimums.1California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 789.3
The statute also says its remedies are not exclusive. You can pursue a 789.3 claim alongside a breach of the warranty of habitability, a code enforcement complaint, or other consumer protection claims.
If It Happens to You
Document What You See
Photograph the changed locks, the missing door, the dark unit. Save every text message and email in which the landlord discusses the situation. Write down the exact date and time each violation began and when, if ever, service was restored. Keep every receipt for anything you had to buy because of the landlord’s conduct. This is the evidence that turns a complaint into a judgment.
Demand Restoration in Writing
Send a written demand — a text or email is fine — telling the landlord to restore the utility, give back your keys, or put the door back. You want a record that you asked and they refused or ignored you. Each day they fail to act adds another day of statutory damages.
File the Case
Small claims court handles disputes up to $12,500 and does not require a lawyer, which makes it a practical venue for many 789.3 cases.2California Courts Self Help. Deciding Between Small Claims and Limited Civil For larger amounts, or when you need an immediate court order restoring access, a limited or unlimited civil case with a lawyer makes more sense. The attorney fee provision often makes contingency representation realistic.
Report to Local Agencies
Your city or county housing authority and code enforcement office can pressure the landlord to comply and may issue citations. They cannot award you damages, but their findings can strengthen your court case.
Abandonment Is Not a Shortcut
Landlords sometimes argue they changed the locks or cleared out belongings because they thought the tenant had abandoned the unit. California has a specific procedure for that situation, and skipping it does not excuse a 789.3 violation.
Under Civil Code 1951.3, a landlord can serve a Notice of Belief of Abandonment only when rent has been due and unpaid for at least 14 consecutive days and the landlord reasonably believes the tenant has left. The notice goes out by personal delivery or first-class mail and must give the tenant a deadline to respond: at least 15 days after personal delivery, or 18 days after mailing. If the tenant responds in writing that they have not abandoned the unit, the landlord cannot proceed. If the deadline passes with no response, the lease terminates and the landlord can take possession.3California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1951.3
Until that process plays out, changing the locks or clearing the unit is a 789.3 violation regardless of what the landlord believed. A landlord who simply decides the tenant is gone has no legal cover if the tenant comes back and finds the locks changed.
Retaliation Often Sits Underneath
Many 789.3 violations happen because a tenant did something the landlord resented, such as reporting a habitability problem, calling code enforcement, or joining a tenants’ organization. Civil Code 1942.5 separately prohibits landlord retaliation and creates a presumption of retaliation when the landlord acts within 180 days of the tenant exercising a protected right. Threatening to report a tenant to immigration authorities is specifically listed as prohibited retaliation.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1942.5
When a retaliatory lockout or shutoff happens, both statutes apply at once. You can sue under 789.3 for the illegal self-help and raise retaliation as a separate claim or as a defense if the landlord then tries to evict you through the courts.