Mariners Bay Co. v. Department of Motor Vehicles

*810 Opinion

We conclude plaintiffs may not enforce possessory vessel liens outside the exclusive provisions of the “Boaters Lien Law” (Harb. & Nav. Code, §§ 500-509). 1 We affirm the judgment (order of dismissal).

Facts

Plaintiffs Mariners Bay Company and Marina International Properties, Ltd., are the lessors of several thousand boat slips in Marina del Rey. When plaintiffs obtain unlawful detainer judgments (“a rented boat slip in a marina is ‘real property’ for purposes of unlawful detainer” (Smith v. Municipal Court (1988) 202 Cal.App.3d 685, 686 [ 245 Cal.Rptr. 300 ])), plaintiffs often have to remove the vessels in order to make the slips available to other lessees. Under the unlawful detainer statutes (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1161-1179a), the landlord must store personal property remaining on the premises in a place of safekeeping until it is either released to the tenant or owner (Code Civ. Proc., § 1174, subd. (h)), or disposed of pursuant to Civil Code section 1988 (Code Civ. Proc., § 1174, subd. (i)). Plaintiffs contend that vessels left in slips following the entry of unlawful detainer judgments are abandoned personal property that may be disposed of pursuant to Civil…