Landlord-Tenant

Generally, a landlord does not owe a duty of care with respect to open and obvious dangers on the property.  There is an exception, however, when it is foreseeable that, because of necessity or other circumstances, a person may choose to encounter the condition.  Here, the exception applied because the obviously dangerous stairway, with uneven risers and no handrail, led… Read More

Under CCP 1174.3, an occupant of a premises that is not an invitee, licensee, guest, or trespasser may file a claim of right to possession of the premises to forestall eviction from the premises under an unlawful detainer judgment rendered in a case to which the occupant was not made a party.  To be valid the claim must show that… Read More

San Francisco's ordinance (SF Admin Code 37.10(A)(1)) making it unlawful for a landlord to seek to recover possession of a rental unit that is exempt from rent control by means of a rental increase that is imposed in bad faith to coerce the tenant to vacate the premises is not preempted by Civ. Code 1954.52, which exempts newly constructed dwellings… Read More

A landlord cannot avoid a lessee's right of first refusal as provided in the lease by selling a larger parcel of which the leased premises is a smaller part.  In that situation, the third party buyer's offered price must be equitably apportioned to the leased premises in the proportion its square footage or appraised value bears to the square footage… Read More

So long as the landlord does not contract with them and does not demand or accept rent from them, the landlord need not let subtenants cure the tenant's rent default.  Accordingly, the landlord's 3-day notice to quit served on the subtenants was proper though it did not offer them the alternative of curing the tenant's rent default.  Also, under San… Read More

CCP 1161.3 provides that a landlord may not terminate a tenancy for (among other things) domestic violence committed against the tenant or a member of the tenant's household so long as the domestic violence is documented by, among other alternatives, a police report.  Over a dissent, this opinion holds that the statute provides a defense to an unlawful detainer action… Read More

This decision affirms a $2.7 million judgment in favor of two tenants against new landlords that harassed the tenants and then wrongfully evicted them in a fake owner move-in all in violation of San Francisco's rent control ordinance.  The ordinance provides for treble damages for violations like these, but the trial court properly exercised its discretion to reduce the trebled… Read More

Defendant instituted a policy requiring public housing tenants to post a $180 deposit to commence water service whereas all others needed only a $55 deposit.  Plaintiff sued, claiming disparate impact discrimination in housing.  To make a prima facie case on that claim, plaintiffs had to (1) the existence of a policy, not a one-time decision, that is outwardly neutral; (2)… Read More

Hom entered into a lease with tenant.  The lease granted extensive rights to lenders to tenant, including performing tenant's obligations and assuming its rights under the lease.  Tenant sued Hom who cross-complained against tenant and Petrou, a lender to tenant.  As part of his settlement with tenant, Hom dismissed his cross-complaint against Petrou as well.  Petrou was awarded attorney fees… Read More

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff's motion for an attorney fee award on the ground that neither party had prevailed in the action.  Plaintiff tenant sued his landlord, asked the jury to award him $200,000 but recovered a jury verdict of only $6,450.  In view of plaintiff's recovery of such a small percentage of the… Read More

Reconciling Delta Imports, Inc. v. Municipal Court (1983) 146 Cal.App.3d 1033 and Borsuk v. Appellate Division (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 607, this decision holds that a defendant in an unlawful detainer action may bring a motion to quash the special 5-day unlawful detainer summons on the ground that the complaint either alleges a claim entirely different from an unlawful detainer claim… Read More

While a landlord can give the tenant more than the 3 days' notice that CCP 1161(2) requires (and must do so if the lease so requires), if the eviction is for non-payment of rent, the notice (for however long a period) must state the amount of the rent due, and the name and address of the person to whom it… Read More

Under San Francisco's rent control ordinance, a “landlord” to evict renters from a unit to make the unit available for a close relative of the landlord.  The ordinance defines "landlord" for this purpose as a natural person.  Here, the property was held in the name of a revocable living trust, not a natural person.  However, the decision holds that the… Read More

Before 2011, one person owned both of two adjoining lots.  Tenants on one of the lots used portions of the adjoining lot for access, parking, and garbage removal, and as a garden.  After 2011, different lenders foreclosed on the two lots, separating their ownership.  Plaintiff bought one of the lots and sued to keep the tenants of the other lot… Read More

The Fair Housing Amendments Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) prohibits discrimination in the form of “a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford [a disabled] person an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.  Here, a disabled person was a month-to-month tenant.  The landlord offered him a… Read More

A person who buys the property from the former landlord may sue a defaulted tenant for unlawful detainer based on a notice to quit which the former landlord served on the tenant before selling the property to the buyer/plaintiff.  Furthermore, the notice to quit is not defective for failing to name the person to whom the property is to be… Read More

Plaintiff, the tenant in a commercial building, was injured when his head struck a low beam at the entrance to an upstairs door and as a result he fell down the stairs.  This decision affirms a summary judgment for the landlord based on an exculpatory clause in the lease which absolved the landlord of liability for personal injuries suffered as… Read More

A commercial lease provided that tenant-paid renovations or fixtures became the landlord's property on termination of the lease.  Here, the lessee was a beauty salon which had installed a water heater and sinks in a built-in counter.  This decision holds the heater and sinks were fixtures even though they could easily be removed.  If the personalty attached to the realty… Read More

Under Civil Code 1950.7(c), a commercial landlord can use a tenant's security deposit to pay the tenant's defaults in payment of rent, repair damage to the premises or to clean the premises after the tenant's move-out--but only if the lease provides that the landlord can use the deposit for those purposes.  Here, the lease authorized use of the security deposit… Read More

A landlord was not liable for the wrongful death of a hair dresser whose employer, a tenant in the property, had stored flammable hair treatment liquid on the premises, which ignited and incinerated the hair dresser/  The landlord had no actual or constructive knowledge that the employer was storing inflammable liquids on the premises and had no duty to investigate… Read More