California Real Estate Lawyers BlogA license in real estate is permission to use real estate based on express or implied permission of the real property owner. It may be written or oral, or implied. Generally, it can be revoked at any time and does not give the licensee an interest in the property. It is personal to the one […]
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Property Tax Assessment and Tax Basis Transfer – Over Age 55 or Disabled
Generally speaking, whenever California real property is transferred, the County Assessor may reassess the property to establish base value for property tax purposes. There are limits as to how much the value may increase every year due to changes in the market. However, when the property is sold, it may be reassessed at full market […]
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An Affirmative Defense is Not an Action for Purpose of Attorney Fee Awards – How a Court Awarded Fees Anyway, and some Rules of Construction
The award of attorney fees in California lawsuits is governed by the “American Rule,” in which ordinarily each party pays their own fees. However, parties may enter a contract that has an attorney fee provision which allocates attorney fees, usually to the prevailing party in a lawsuit. A recent Northern California decision involved such provisions […]
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What can Happen When a Lender Forecloses a Lease, and How the Lessor Can Protect Itself – Privity of Contract vs Privity of Estate
In larger commercial real estate leases, the tenant occasionally needs a loan to build the premises or finance major transactions. The tenant does not own the real property, but has the lease, which is both an interest in real property and a contract. This results in two sets of rights and obligations – those from […]
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Failure to Disclose – In California Real Estate, the Seller’s Expert Must Deal With The Buyer To Be Considered Seller’s Agent; Otherwise, Their Knowledge Will Not be Attributed to the Seller
In California real estate sales, a typical claim by disgruntled buyers is that the seller failed to disclose some problem with the property that the seller was aware of. The buyer’s cry is that, if the facts had been disclosed, they would have not bought the property, or would have paid less for it. Claims […]
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Void Judgments and the Risk To Real Estate Buyers – An Action to Cancel an Instrument Does Not Quiet Title
I had previously discussed the case of OC Interiors, where the court determined that a void judgment in the chain of title to real property nullifies all subsequent transfers, including a transfer to a bona fide purchaser. That is a frightening prospect for buyers, and a reason to take a close look at the preliminary […]
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Multiple Deed of Trust held By the Same Lender –Why Foreclosure of the First Does Not Prevent Deficiency on the Second
When there are multiple liens on real property and the senior lien or deed of trust is foreclosed, the junior liens are wiped out, and the junior lienholders have lost their security for the debt. All they have left is the underlying debt, which they can then seek to collect directly from the debtor. These […]
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A Clash Between a Void Judgment and a Bona Fide Purchaser of Real Estate – How the California Court Sorted out their Rights
Default judgments occasionally occur, and sometimes they may be set-aside or vacated by the court. There are several statutory grounds for a judgment debtor to get a default vacated. But what happens in the default judgment concerns title to real property? If there is a default judgment in the chain of title, potential buyers need […]
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California Escrows and Liability to Third Party Strangers to Escrow – The Difficult Challenge to Finding Liability
In the ordinary real estate or business sale escrow, the escrow officer owes duties to the parties to only the parties to the escrow, and not to third parties. There are a few exceptions, such as when the parties real estate sale escrow instructions require following a third party’s instructions, such as lender’s instructions for […]
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California Environmental Indemnity Provisions – Do they Cover First-Party Claims?
Indemnity provisions usually refer to third-party claims. This means a claim by a person other than the two parties to the indemnity. If I sell you a box of widgets and indemnify you for all claims resulting from the use of the widgets, the idea is that if a third person is injured by the […]