WELCOME TO THE LAW OFFICE OF HOWARD F. BURNS!

Thank you for visiting.  The Law Office of Howard F. Burns is a full-service firm dedicated to serving the litigation needs of the real estate owner and investor.   Mr. Burns specializes in litigation and trial practice.  For the past 25 years, Mr. Burns has zealously, competently, and successfully represented San Diego County's real estate investors, landlords and property management companies.  Mr. Burns' practice focuses on defense of Americans With Disabilities and Unruh Act lawsuits, evictions, foreclosure litigation, defense of tenant lawsuits, and lease collections.   Please read what Mr. Burns' clients are saying about him on Google Reviews.  

READ MY FIVE-STAR YELP REVIEWS!  These are the reviews from my most long-term clients that Yelp chose to "filter" and the two that Yelp chose to show.  Every one of these clients used my services and wrote the review voluntarily.  

Gary W. Escondido, CA 0 friends 2 reviews

1/28/2019    Highly recommend Mr. Howard Burns to handle your eviction case! This was my first experience with a deadbeat tenant, and Mr. Burns helped me every step of the way, for fees I felt were reasonable. He provided the advice for me to avoid all potential missteps and achieve the best possible solution, all via email and phone conversations. He guided the case expeditiously through the legal process. He worked to successfully negotiate a stipulated agreement, optimal for my situation, even offering to meet with the tenants after hours to get the deal signed. If this kind of thing ever happens again, I'm going straight to Mr. Burns.

Me P. Western Branch North, Chesapeake, VA 0 friends 1 review

1/10/2019    If you are looking for a real estate attorney who is very knowledgeable, professional, skilled, reliable, trustworthy, responsive, informative, easy to speak with and easy to understand Mr. Burns is the attorney for you.  

Over the years we made a series of mistakes which made our case very complicated.  First to save money we contracted with our tenant without the help of legal advice.  In addition, we did not properly enforce the terms of the contract and/or did not properly document subsequent communications to ensure adequate protection of our interests.  This made an opening for our tenant to become lax about complying with the terms of the contract, not paying rent, trying to charge back repairs that were legally the tenant's responsibility and even threatening to take us to court.

In November after months of dealing with continued intense stress and the situation seemingly worse I decided to obtain legal advice.   After carefully reading many reviews of attorneys in the San Diego area I chose to contact Mr. Burns. Contacting Mr. Burns is one of the best decisions I could have made!  When I called his office, I fully expected an assistant or secretary to screen my call but to my pleasant surprise I found out Mr. Burns works directly with his clients.  He gave me the personal attention I was not used to receiving from other attorneys.  

After explaining our case in a very convoluted way, Mr. Burns asked me a number of important questions and asked for certain documentation for his review.  After quickly acquiring a detailed and thorough understanding of the complicated aspects of our case he provided me his advice along with several legal options explaining and walking me through the process with pros and cons so I could easily and fully understand my options.  As events unfolded, I shared, sometimes daily events.  Each time Mr. Burns was very responsive and incorporated the new information to provide additional legal advice while helping me through every step of the process.  

So not to write a book and complicate my narrative with details I am greatly simplifying by saying in closing that Mr. Burns sound advice and legal actions helped us achieve a final solution that not only saved us thousands of dollars and a lot of time but also helped us eliminate the long-term distress of dealing with a difficult tenant.  

I don't usually take the time to write reviews but because of the exceptional reviews from his other clients I was fortunate to have chosen Mr. Burns and felt the need to "pay it forward".  Mr. Burns' guidance has helped us gain a peace of mind which made our Christmas so much easier to enjoy with our family!

Michael G. Kaysville, UT 0 friends 1 review

1/9/2019    Howard Burns is the best attorney that I have ever dealt with.

 Michael Ihave R. San Francisco, CA 0 friends 1 review

12/20/2017    Mr. Burns is an excellent attorney. I'm a landlord and have been for over a decade and watched my parents do it before I started. I've needed to evict some pretty difficult tenants at times. Never have I ever encountered  a more difficult UD defendant in my lifetime, than the one in the case Mr. Burns won for me. The attorney I had prior to Mr. Burns was unsuccessful and allowed the case to drag way out of the time range of a normal UD. I went broke. This defendant was like an expert at being a deadbeat occupant and in thwarting recourse. Although none of her defenses was that she was paying rent, she subpoenaed tons of unnecessary records, and defeated me in court numerous times prior to my retaining Mr. Burns. She exhausted me financially with legal fees, and with brutal discovery demands. She sat on me in that house for so long that I ended up receiving a Notice of Default. Time was ticking for me and this home was in our family since my childhood so it was meaningful to me. In addition, as trustee of my family's estate, the homes are my responsibility. I felt I had failed. I was desperate for a new attorney and my wallet was thin. I reached out to several attorneys. Fortunately, Scott Soady, Attorney at Law, our family's trust attorney, referred Mr. Burns. To my amazement, for someone in such a nice Mission Valley office and with so much experience, his rate was actually most reasonable. His expertise cannot be matched in the UD field. I'm a certified paralegal (USD), I've worked for the County Bar in Dispute Resolution Services, and worked as a legal assistant for over 15 years in sunny Southern California. So I especially know a good attorney when I see one. He's personable, addressed all  of my concerns, and was super meticulous.  Only because of it, he WON MY CASE!!!  Now I have great tenants. My home is saved from default (well, I'm digging out of the hole gradually, lol and the bank is actually working with me on the mortgage while I'm catching up). What I'm trying to tell all of you is hire this attorney! He doesn't mess around. He gets the job done.

Cherry W. La Jolla, CA 0 friends 1 review

8/26/2016    Howard really saved us. He had saved our time and stress from tenant.
He does the prompt action all the time. We did not even have to go through the eviction process because of his prompt communication with tenant.

You can count on him whenever you need help with tenants.
Contacting with Howard is the shortest way to solve problems.
I am very happy to find a trustworthy attorney.

Rich T. San Diego, CA 49 friends 14 reviews 1 photo

1/25/2016    I used Howard Burns one time to serve a three day notice. This was in October, 2013. The item was done quickly. The tenant said they would move out after the three day period and if I pursued getting him out sooner he would stay in the property till I evicted. Through emails Howard advised me to wait & see and that would save me anymore expenses. The tenant moved out a week after the expiration of the three day notice. My only expense was for the three day notice service. Mr. Burns spent some time through emails, with me, after the notice was served but did not charge any extra. I thought Howard Burns was fair and glad that I did business with him. I would use him again if necessary.

Will V. San Diego, CA 0 friends 10 reviews 2 photos

7/11/2015    I was living a nightmare with tenants who had not paid rent in over 2 months. I tried to handle things on my own to save money and because I thought it would be easy. I ended up making several mistakes in the notices to vacate I submitted and that's when I decided to get professional help.

I found Attorney Howard Burns online and he immediately went to work. Howard worked directly with me (you will not speak to a secretary) and explained the process in detail. I had a situation where the eviction "had" to take place before a specific timeframe and he assured me that it would not be a problem.  Howard came through for me and my eviction took place without me having to do anything other than waiting for the Sheriffs to clear the studio.

I highly recommend Howard Burns to take care of your eviction drama...His fees were very reasonable and he guarantees a flat fee (uncontested cases).  Thank you Howard for giving me piece of mind again!

William F. V
US Navy (Retired)

Robert M. San Diego, CA 18 friends 28 reviews 56 photos 

12/7/2013    First to Review Howard Burns is an attorney who is very knowledgeable in Eviction Law.  From start to finish he kept me in the loop ! He answered  every question very promptly and thoroughly. After my education in the eviction process, I recommend spending the extra expense in hiring a lawyer.  Definitely worth the money !

Jeremy S. San Diego, CA 0 friends 3 reviews

3/29/2012 As a property manager, I have used Howard Burns for several evictions.  Typically I call him with the really difficult cases, and he has successfully and expeditiously kicked out several bad tenants; including a long time hoarder and a malicious fraud.   His rates are reasonable and I find him to be very honest and reliable.  One of my favorite aspects, is now that we have an ongoing relationship I can email him with the occasional legal question and he is happy to respond without billing me.  I will use him again and would recommend him to any landlord in need of legal advice.

Eric W. Carlsbad, CA 39 friends 19 reviews 6 photos

3/20/2012 Mr. Howard Burns helped me evict my tenant. From start to finish it all went as Mr. Burns said it would. My eviction was a complicated one (at least for me) with many other legal matters thrown into the mix. Howard knowledgably answered all my questions in a timely manner and kept my mind at ease. After educating myself on the eviction process I chose the lawyer route (AKA Mr. Burns) over the many other straight eviction companies because he could give me legal advise. Whereas those others cannot. That and, if I had to seek damages after the fact Howard could handle that process as well. And again, whereas the eviction companies cannot. I keep Mr Burns number handy in case I need him in the future.

​MY RESPONSE TO THE TWO ONE-STAR REVIEWS:

With regard to the review by Susan, I don't know anyone named Susan from Templeton and don't have any client from there.  The retainer that she mentioned, $500.00, isn't my retainer amount.  I think that she may have the wrong attorney. 

Regarding the review from Charles Snyder, I represented him for about three days.  He hired me for an eviction on a Thursday or Friday.  I prepared the case for filing and was ready to file it the following Monday.  The client, however, called off the eviction because the tenant was in the process of moving out which commonly occurs over a weekend.  Mr. Snyder never said anything to me about dissatisfaction with my services.  I deducted from the retainer a small amount for the time that I had in the case and mailed him a check for the balance.  I'm sorry that he wasn't satisfied but I don't agree with what he said in the review and I wish that he had contacted me first to try and work it out.   

WHAT EVERY CLIENT CAN EXPECT FROM THE LAW OFFICE OF HOWARD F. BURNS

     --Experienced, knowledgeable, and aggressive representation; 
     --Service that is responsive, personal, and reliable; 
     --Advice that is clear, practical, informed, and well-reasoned; 
     --Periodic and regular updates on the status and progress of your case; 
     --Reasonable attorney's fees and guidance on cost and budget; 
     --Complete representation covering all phases of the case including trial, appeal, and related bankruptcy proceedings; 
     --Expertise that comes from specialization; 
     --Consideration and advice on cost-effective alternatives to litigation such as mediation, arbitration, and settlement conferences;