What is a CP10.5? The prejudgment claim of right to possession in an eviction, explained

Form

CP10.5

Official name

Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession

Who gives it to you

Served with the summons and complaint, filed by an occupant who is not named as a defendant

The clock it starts

Must be filed within the same response period printed on the summons

Version shown here

Rev. June 15, 2015, mandatory form

What to do if you are served a CP10.5

1. Check whether your name is on the complaint. If you are listed as a defendant, you respond with a UD-105 answer, not a CP10.5. The claim is only for adults living in the home who were not named.
2. Check whether the CP10.5 was served with the packet. If the landlord included it, you have the same number of court days as the summons to file it, and if you do not you can be locked out with the named tenants without any further notice.
3. Fill it out and file it at the court on the summons. The claim states that you lived in the property on the date the complaint was filed and that you claim a right to possession. Filing it makes you a defendant with the right to file an answer.
4. File your answer next. Once the claim is filed you need to respond to the complaint like any other defendant, usually with a UD-105, inside the time the court gives you. Call us and we will handle both.

Eviction complaints name the tenants on the lease. They often do not name everyone who actually lives in the home. The CP10.5, Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession, exists for those people: the partner who moved in later, the adult child, the roommate, the subtenant. It is the way an unnamed occupant steps into the case before judgment so the court hears from them too.

How it works

When a landlord wants the eventual judgment to cover everyone in the unit, the process server serves the CP10.5 along with the SUM-130 summons and the UD-100 complaint, in a way designed to reach any occupant. Once that is done, every adult living there who is not named has the same response window as the named tenants to file the claim. An occupant who files becomes a defendant and can then file a UD-105 answer. An occupant who does not file is bound by whatever judgment is entered against the named tenants, and the sheriff can remove them at the lockout with no separate proceeding.

If the landlord did not serve the CP10.5 with the packet, the unnamed occupant keeps a later option: when the sheriff serves the writ of possession and posts the notice to vacate, the occupant can file a Claim of Right to Possession at that point, which pauses the lockout until a judge decides whether the occupant should have been named.

What the form asks

The claim is short. It asks for your name, the address, the date the complaint was filed, a statement that you occupied the premises on that date, and a statement that you claim a right to possession. You sign it under penalty of perjury and file it at the courthouse named on the summons. The court then treats you as a defendant, and the deadline to answer starts running.

The mistake people make

The most common problem is assuming that, because your name is not on the lawsuit, the lawsuit is not about you. It is. A judgment for possession is a judgment about the property, and the sheriff executes it against whoever is inside. If you live in a home where the named tenants have been served, call us with the packet and we will tell you whether a claim is needed and what the deadline is.

This website provides general information about the California eviction process and is not legal advice. Court forms are reproduced from the Judicial Council of California; confirm you are using the current revision before filing.