Avoiding Pitfalls Around New Calif. Commercial Lease Law

Litigation attorney Anne Beehler and real estate attorney Andrew Starrels co-authored a Law360 article examining the Commercial Tenant Protection Act (S.B. 1103) in California that grants new rights to qualified commercial tenants (QCTs), including microenterprises, small restaurants and nonprofits. The law imposes requirements on commercial landlords, such as providing advance notice for rent increases, automatic lease renewals for month-to-month tenants and mandatory translation of leases negotiated in specified languages. This article explores the law's key provisions and notes outstanding questions about the methods for cost allocation, a landlord's ability to dispute QCT status and the implications of a tenant losing QCT status during a lease.

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