How To Serve The Small Claims Case Paperwork When The Defendant Evades And The Judge Denied The Substituted Service Request?

I own the condo unit in a 5-unit complex in California. All 5 units are one considered to be one parcel number and have to pay one combined property tax bill to the county.

One of the condo complex co-owners stopped paying his share of the county property taxes, He is there, comes in and out at random times, he is seen, but he doesn't respond to texts, calls, e-mails, mails, knocks on the door. He just doesn't pay.

We filed the small claims court case against him to collect the money.

When the court sent him the initial certified mail it came back unsigned. This means that he didn't open the door to sign.

I hired my acquaintance to serve the paperwork. The server came to the defendant's residence 4 times at different days and times. The server knocked on the door but there was no answer. The room light in the defendant's condo went off during one of of the visits while the server was waiting at the door. This means that the defendant was clearly inside but didn't open the door.

There are no responsible adults at this place because this is a small and quiet residential complex where he is a sole owner and occupant.

I filed the ex parte application for order authorizing substituted service by posting at the defendant's door. I described all the above attempts and information in details.

This ex parte application got denied by the judge in favor of regular service. The clerk pointed me again to the paragraphs describing how the paperwork can be left at the defendant's resident with a responsible adult, etc. But there are no other adults there! This was described in the application.

Then the court directed me to the "self help center". The lady at the self help center told me that I need to hire the server to camp out at the defendant's door 24/7 for a week or a month or as long as it would take to server papers. This isn't practical and isn't even legal to camp out at someone's residence.

Our small claims court claim is legal and very straightforward. All documentation is present. The guy just doesn't pay his share of the tax.

**Question**: How to serve the paperwork if the defendant is evading and the judge doesn't approve the substituted service to post the paperwork at his door? What should we do next?

Location: California