§ 1255.040.Deposit Where Property Includes Dwelling Occupied By Defendant As Residence

This section gives residential occupants leverage the general deposit rules don't. It applies when the property includes a dwelling of no more than two residential units, the defendant lives in it as a residence, and the plaintiff hasn't already made a deposit that satisfies Article 1. The defendant can serve notice demanding a deposit by a date at least 30 days out.

If the plaintiff deposits by that date, the reward is a possession order effective 30 days after the date the defendant set (or later, at the plaintiff's request). If the plaintiff misses the date, the compensation eventually awarded draws legal interest from that date -- the full amount, with no offset for rents, other income, or the value of the defendant's continued possession. If the proceeding is later abandoned, that interest is recovered as costs under § 1268.610; if a court or jury eventually fixes the compensation, interest runs on that award, and if no determination is ever made, interest runs on the court's probable-amount figure instead.

Serving this notice isn't free of consequences for the defendant, either -- it waives, by operation of law and conditioned on the plaintiff's subsequent deposit, every claim and defense except the claim for greater compensation. The notice must be served the same way § 1255.020(a) requires, and the defendant may withdraw the resulting deposit under Article 2 (§ 1255.210 and following). Once judgment has been entered, this notice is off the table unless that judgment is reversed, vacated, or set aside and no new judgment has taken its place.