One aspect of California commercial property evictions you seldom see is the unlawful detainer judgment being overturned on appeal. It can happen. While it is established that the lessor is not liable for forcible entry and detainer or wrongful eviction in such a case, a court recently ruled on a…
Eminent Domain is the legal process in which the government takes property without the owner’s consent, but with payment of compensation. It is a common practice in California, as seen in Sacramento in both the Hazel Avenue improvement project and Madison Avenue improvement project. Projects like these include “right of…
I had noted in a previous post that between late 2009 and 2013, more than $2 trillion in commercial mortgages, which typically have a five- to 10-year term, will need to be refinanced. Many California commercial mortgage loans have gone into default and the properties are being run by court…
In California, the rules regarding adverse possession and prescriptive easement are well established. A recent decision regarding commercial property in Irvine addressed the one rare situation in which payment of taxes IS required to establish a prescriptive easement; in this case however, payment of taxes was not needed to establish…
The last period of high inflation in California mortgage loan rates this author saw the use of all-inclusive deeds of trust (a.k.a. wraparound deed of trust) to allow borrowers to acquire property when it was difficult to qualify for a high interest rate loan for the entire purchase price. Given…
Lenders on commercial properties usually require a Deed of Trust that gives them an assignment of rents and profits. The idea is that, if the borrower defaults, the lender is entitled to all rents and profits which have accrued and are collected after the default. Profit is short for” profit-à-prendre“,…
A recent decision granted a judgment to a neighbor for a fire in Santa Clara County. The plaintiff owned several original documents written by Albert Einstein; the plaintiff’s father & Einstein were friends. To go through the papers, the plaintiff had brought them to his get-away trailer parked on rural…
A “Power Coupled With An Interest” is an ancient legal concept that is different from an ordinary power of attorney. A power of attorney gives the attorney-in-fact or agent (the holder of the power) the ability to act on behalf of the principal, who is the person who granted the…
A California mortgage lender does not owe fiduciary duty to a borrower; a mortgage broker does. The difference is substantial, and a loan officer in Ventura County learned the hard way. A fiduciary duty is a duty of both loyalty and good faith. Borrower Tonya contacted loan officer Anthony in…
The average length of unemployment is now nine months, according to the Treasury Department, but Federal foreclosure help for the unemployed only lasts for three months. The Treasury Department was given $46 billion to spend on keeping homeowners in their houses; to date, the agency. Big Deal. Meanwhile, the Keep…