## Facts

- In 1983, Marianne Jones signed a written month-to-month rental agreement for an apartment in Santa Monica, terminable by either party on 30 days’ written notice.
- Jones lived in the unit until her death on September 21, 1984.
- After Jones’s death, her mother, Marguerite Bullock, began sending monthly rent payments to the landlord using money orders purchased in Jones’s name.
- Bullock did not live in the unit but visited several times a week; she did not inform the landlord of Jones’s death.
- In 1988, when asked to complete a tenant-related form, Bullock had another daughter forge Jones’s signature.
- After the landlord discovered Jones had died, Bullock denied the death.
- The landlord served Bullock with a 30-day notice to vacate, stopped accepting rent, and filed an unlawful detainer action against Bullock individually and as representative of Jones’s estate.
- Bullock asserted she succeeded to Jones’s tenancy at death and that the landlord waived objections by accepting rent, invoking the Santa Monica rent control good-cause termination protections.

## Issues

1. Whether Bullock succeeded to Jones’s month-to-month tenancy by operation of law upon Jones’s death.
2. Whether the Santa Monica rent control good-cause termination provisions applied to Bullock if she was not a tenant.
3. Whether the landlord’s acceptance of rent tendered in Jones’s name after Jones’s death created a tenancy in Bullock or waived the landlord’s right to recover possession.

## Decision

- The appellate department reversed the judgment for Bullock.
- Bullock did not inherit or otherwise succeed to Jones’s month-to-month tenancy by operation of law.
- Bullock was not a “tenant” for purposes of California landlord-tenant law or the Santa Monica rent control good-cause termination provisions.
- The landlord’s acceptance of rent paid in Jones’s name, without knowledge of Jones’s death, did not create a new tenancy with Bullock and did not constitute waiver.
- The landlord could proceed in unlawful detainer based on the 30-day notice to vacate.

## Legal Principles

- A month-to-month tenancy does not automatically pass to an heir or family member upon the tenant’s death absent an assignment, sublease, or other recognized basis for succession.
- Rent-control “good cause” eviction limits apply to bona fide tenants; an occupant who is not a tenant is not entitled to those protections.
- Acceptance of rent while the landlord reasonably believes it is paid on behalf of the named tenant, and without knowledge of material facts such as the tenant’s death, does not establish mutual assent to a new tenancy with the payor.
- Deceptive conduct concerning the identity or status of the tenant defeats claims of implied tenancy and waiver based on rent acceptance.

## Conclusion

The court held that Bullock’s post-death rent payments made in the deceased tenant’s name, coupled with concealment and misrepresentation, did not make her a tenant or a protected rent-control occupant; the landlord could terminate possession through a 30-day notice and unlawful detainer.


Miller & Desatnik Mgmt. Co. v. Bullock, 221 Cal. App. 3d Supp. 13, 270 Cal. Rptr. 600 (Cal. App. Dep’t Super. Ct. 1990)