3 months before the end of one year lease my tenants are separated and wife moves out. The last 2 months of the lease remain unpaid and the lease ends at the end of this month. Remaining tenant says he's leaving at end of month and has had many excuses for not paying rent. Do I need an official letter from him stating that he's not renewing the lease or is the end of lease enough? What if he doesn't leave at the end of the month like he states? Do I have to start an eviction process and what am I entitled to in court? How can I legally get him out of the house especially since he's not paying the rent? How long does the process take? We are in California.
Thanks

Why have you allowed rent to be unpaid for 2 months? What does the lease say about termination? Some leases have automatic renewal clauses or automatically convert to month to month. So you need to read the lease to determine what you have to do. I would play it safe and give him a written notice that you are not renewing the lease and expect him to vacate by the end of the lease. But then I would have served him a pay or quit notice the moment he was late on the rent.

In fact it may be too late to do so, you might be required to give him one month's notice of terminating the lease. If that's the case, then you need to serve him a pay or quit notice immediately. I believe for CA it's a 3 day notice. If he doesn't pay in full within the three days, you then file for an eviction order with your local housing court. It will probably take a few weeks for this process to complete, so it's the fastest and surest way to get him out soonest.

Being a landlord is a business. Before you enter into that business you need to know what your rights and responsibilities are.