Otanez

A landlord may not terminate a tenant’s occupancy of his or her residence under a lease by shutting off the utility services. (Civ. Code, § 789.3.)

We hold that a tenant need not live in the premises full-time in order to be a resident.

Here the owner of a mobilehome in Santa Barbara moved to Nevada but continued to pay rent for the space in which her mobilehome was located. Her landlord, through his property managers, discontinued the utilities to her mobilehome. She sued the landlord and property managers under section 789.3 and under a statute defining tenancy (§ 798.12). The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.

The tenant appeals contending she qualified as a resident of the mobile-home even though she had moved elsewhere; residency presented a triable issue of fact; and the motion did not reach the cause of action for violation of section 798.12. We hold that a reasonable trier of fact could find the landlord, but not the property managers, liable under section 789.3. We reverse.

Facts

Sandra Otanez owned a mobilehome at the Blue Skies Mobile Home Park. Her lease of the space on which her mobilehome was situated provided in part;…