Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I am about to sign a commercial real estate lease as a tenant in California. Item #17A on page 2 of the California Association of Realtors Commercial Lease document deals with "Maintenance". Specifically, it is stated that the Tenant (me) shall professionally maintain building systems (air conditioning, heating, electrical, water, etc), and failure to do so will result in tenant being charged by Landlord for such costs.

My questions is: does this mean I am potentially responsible for all costs related to replacing a commercial air conditioning unit if it were to fail (through no known fault of my own)? The building is 50+ years old, and I have no idea what state the electrical, heating systems, etc are in, and I certainly don't want to be held responsible if a major building system were to fail on the first day of my lease!

Thank you!


Asked on 9/15/15, 2:22 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Yes. That's what it means.

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Answered on 9/15/15, 2:57 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

It means what it says; however, there's no reason why you can't try to negotiate for some changes, either out-and-out deletion of the clause or some kind of insurance that the mechanical systems are in decent shape and that the landlord will assume some responsibility for them. Just because something is printed into a form lease doesn't mean it isn't negotiable or that you are being unreasonable when you object to assuming responsibility for some ancient mechanical systems. The reasonableness of the rent is of course another factor to consider in deciding how tough to be in lease negotiations.

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Answered on 9/15/15, 8:47 pm


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