Drouet

The Ellis Act (Gov.Code, § 7060 et seq.) provides a statutory procedure allowing a landlord to remove rental units from the market and leave the landlord business— and, if necessary, evict tenants. Civil Code section 1942.5 provides for an affirmative defense to eviction, as well as an independent action for damages, when the eviction is in retaliation for the exercise of a tenant's rights. This case raises the issue whether a tenant facing eviction under the Ellis Act may raise an affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction under Civil Code section 1942.5, when the landlord has complied with the procedural requirements of the Ellis Act to remove rental units from the market. We conclude that the Legislature did not intend that the Ellis Act allow a tenant to prevent a landlord from removing property from the rental market by resisting eviction through an affirmative defense of retaliatory eviction. But the tenant retains the right to an independent action for damages provided by the retaliatory eviction statute.

Petitioner Joel Drouet owns rental property in San Francisco. He withdrew his rental property from the rental market under the Ellis Act, and filed an…