In California, generally when a real estate buyer defaults on the loan and loses the property to foreclosure, the lender may not pursue a deficiency judgment against the borrower where the foreclosure sale proceeds are not enough to cover the amount of the debt. Lenders may go after loan guarantors…
Guarantors of California commercial real estate loans are regularly required to sign waivers of defenses. Guarantors would otherwise have the usual defenses that borrowers have, such as anti-deficiency protection (see at bottom re: the Gradsky Waiver). Civil Code section 2856 specifies what specific defenses may be waived; the waiver often…
When there has been a breach of contract or fraud related to a real estate contract, the injured party can either seek damages, or disaffirm the contract, treat it as rescinded (called rescission), and seek damages for the rescission. In the case of rescission, Civil Code Section 1689 permits rescission…
A Lis Pendens, or Notice of Pending Action, is a document that is recorded to give constructive record notice of a pending lawsuit. The lawsuit must involve a claim which affects (a) title to, or right to possession of, real property or (b) the use of an easement. (C.C.P. §…
In the past, when multiple parties were obligated under the same commercial lease, they were presumed to be jointly liable. They are each responsible for their share of the total. If the other side wanted to enforce the agreement, they had to name all the jointly liable parties in the…
An escrow involves the deposit of money, documents, or other things, with a third party to be delivered on occurrence of specified conditions. In a typical transaction, the buyer of real estate deposits the purchase money, and the seller deposits the deed to the property. The instructions provide that the…
The statute of frauds is legislation developed to prevent fraud by requiring a writing for several forms of agreement. The idea is that these transactions are too important to be left to claims of oral agreements. An important topic addressed by the statute of frauds is real estate. Covered are…
A lis pendens is a recorded notice of a lawsuit that concerns title or possession to real property. It is called a “Notice of Pending Action” in the statutes, but Judges and attorneys still like the old term. The purpose is to give notice of the lawsuit – anyone who…
California landowners need to be concerned about public use of their property. A high level of public use may imply an offer of dedication for public use. Unlike a prescriptive easement, public recreational use rights may be created without regard to how much any one individual uses the property, but…
There are numerous anti-deficiency laws concerning California real estate. An Important one, especially with commercial real estate, is CCP section 726(a). It is broadly described as the “one form of action” rule. This broad rule has two components – a) the “one action rule”, a prohibition of multiple lawsuits to…