10 Court Days to Answer an Unlawful Detainer in California (CCP § 1167, post-AB 2347)

Until December 31, 2024, the response window in a California unlawful detainer was the famously short five court days. AB 2347, effective January 1, 2025, amended Code of Civil Procedure § 1167 to double that window to ten court days. The bill’s sponsor framed it as a basic due-process fix: five days was always indefensibly short to find counsel, gather documents, and plead the affirmative defenses that frequently win these cases.

Even with the extension, the deadline remains the most consequential clock in California civil practice. Default judgments in UD are entered on the clerk’s desk within days of expiration. By the time a tenant realizes the timeline matters, the writ of possession may already be in the sheriff’s hands. Move now.

We represent tenants exclusively. The single most common reason a tenant loses an unlawful detainer that was winnable on the merits is missing the response deadline. The defenses that defeat these cases, defective notice, improper service, rent overstatement, habitability offset, LARSO just-cause failures, retaliation — only matter if they get pleaded in time.

How the count actually works

The ten days are court days, not calendar days. That means weekends and court holidays do not count. The clock starts the day after personal service of the Summons and Complaint, not the day of service. If you were personally served on a Monday morning with no holidays in the period, day one is Tuesday and day ten falls two weeks later. That is meaningfully longer than ten calendar days, but easy to miscount.

Service by anything other than personal delivery extends the deadline further. Posted-and-mailed service adds ten days for the mailing under CCP § 1013 and the AB 2347 framework. Combined with the underlying ten court days, that often produces a real-world window of twenty to twenty-five calendar days, but the precise count turns on the manner of service shown on the proof of service. Get counsel’s eyes on the proof of service before assuming you have time.

What “filing a response” actually means

Most tenants file an Answer using Judicial Council Form UD-105, that is the response that puts the case at issue, raises affirmative defenses, and demands a jury. The full walkthrough is on our UD-105 step-by-step page. But the Answer is not the only response. Three procedural motions also stop the default clock and can sometimes resolve the case before trial:

A Motion to Quash under CCP § 418.10 challenges the court’s personal jurisdiction when the Summons was defectively served. While the motion is pending, the Answer deadline pauses. If granted, the landlord has to re-serve and the timeline resets. A demurrer under CCP § 430.10 challenges the legal sufficiency of the Complaint itself, useful when the underlying notice is defective on its face (overstated rent, missing just-cause statement, wrong notice period). A motion to strike under CCP § 435 removes improper allegations and is often filed alongside a demurrer.

AB 2347 also streamlined the demurrer and motion-to-strike procedure in unlawful detainer, allowing oral oppositions and replies and requiring hearings within seven days absent good cause. The practical effect: where a notice is genuinely defective, a demurrer is now a much faster path to dismissal than it was under the prior framework.

What happens if you miss the deadline

The landlord requests a default. The clerk enters it, usually within a day or two of the request. The court enters a default judgment for possession (and sometimes for back rent and attorney fees). The landlord then requests a writ of possession, which issues to the sheriff. The sheriff posts a five-day notice to vacate at the property. If you are not out by the end of day five, the lockout proceeds.

None of that is the end. CCP § 473(b) allows a motion to set aside the default within six months on grounds of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, supported by a meritorious-defense showing. Attorney-affidavit relief under the same statute is mandatory if counsel attests the default resulted from their error. CCP § 473(d) allows set-aside at any time for void judgments, most commonly where the Summons was never properly served in the first place. Our CCP § 473 set-aside page walks through what to gather and how to file the emergency stay request that prevents the sheriff from completing the lockout while the motion is pending.

The set-aside path works in many cases. It is not a substitute for filing on time. Each step of the default-and-set-aside cycle costs time, money, and increases the risk that the lockout completes before the motion is heard.

What the response should actually do

A pro se Answer that just checks the general-denial box is the second-most-common way tenants lose cases they could have won. UD-105 has check-box affirmative defenses in Item 3, those are not optional add-ons. Defenses not pleaded in the Answer are usually waived at trial. Item 3a (habitability), 3b (retaliation), 3h (defective notice / improper service / overstated rent), and 3j (local just-cause failure) are the workhorses in LA tenant practice. The Item 3u free-text section is where additional defenses, Section 8 framework violations, AB 1482 coverage despite landlord claim, ADA/FEHA reasonable accommodation refusal, Stay Housed LA protections, TAHO harassment, get articulated.

Item 4 of UD-105 is the jury demand. Almost always check it. UD is a summary proceeding, but tenants retain a constitutional right to a jury trial, and a jury demand changes scheduling and often plaintiff strategy.

What to do today

Start with the paperwork. Find the Summons in your mail or wherever it was left, locate the proof of service, and note the date and manner of service. The clock runs from there. Count 10 court days starting the day after personal service; add 10 days if you got posted service.

Pull Form UD-105 from the California Courts website and gather every relevant document: the lease, the notice that preceded the suit, payment records, repair requests, and any code-enforcement complaints.

Get a tenant attorney on the phone. A 20-minute call usually tells you whether the case is winnable on its face, settle-able, or both. If filing fees are a barrier, prepare Form FW-001 for a fee waiver.

Related pages

• Just Served Eviction Papers? Start Here
• How to Answer a UD (Form UD-105 Step-by-Step)
• Motion to Quash UD Summons
• Demurrer to UD
• Default Judgment Set-Aside (CCP § 473)
• UD Timeline