CA Restaurant Owner Won't Pay Rent Or Get Out, Despite Eviction Notice

FOLSOM, CA — It’s been over a month since a Northern California restaurateur was ordered by her landlord to leave but she’s not planning on going anywhere, according to reports.

Q’bole! Cocina & Cantina was established 20 years ago and for the past decade it has occupied a restaurant space in Folsom owned by Moe Hirani, reports said.

Restaurant operator Diana Calderon told The Sacramento Bee she hasn’t paid rent since May, at which time she was informed her lease wouldn’t be renewed. She said Hirani is retaliating against her business after one of her employees filed a lawsuit over an elevator in the building that fell two floors and injured the worker, according to ABC10.

Calderon’s original lease was five years and allowed for three additional five-year renewals, the Bee reported, adding she spent $70,000 on renovations after moving into the space, and had plans in January for more work estimated at another $15,000.

She also paid $7,000 out of pocket for storm damage in 2023, according to the Bee, and she wants her $5,000 deposit back, ABC10 reported.

Hirani said Calderon did not give written notice that she intended to renew her lease, according to the Bee, and that her claims that she emailed him about the renewal are false, ABC10 reported. He is suing Calderon to evict her, according to the Bee

“Most people, when the lease expires, they pack up and leave,” he told the Bee.

The legal process is likely to come out in Hirani’s favor, multiple attorneys told the Bee, but it could take six months and until it’s settled Calderon won’t be leaving.

“I want to wait it out until our day in court, and I want a judge to decide who owes who money,” she told ABC10.