Court Opinions

State Laws

US Code

US Constitution

California Civil Code Section 1950.8

Legal Research Home > California Lawyer > Civil Code > California Civil Code Section 1950.8

(a) This section applies only to commercial leases and
nonresidential tenancies of real property.
   (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to require, demand, or
cause to make payable any payment of money, including, but not
limited to, "key money," however denominated, or the lessor's
attorney's fees reasonably incurred in preparing the lease or rental
agreement, as a condition of initiating, continuing, or renewing a
lease or rental agreement, unless the amount of payment is stated in
the written lease or rental agreement.
   (c) Any person who requires, demands, or causes to make payable
any payment in violation of subdivision (a), shall be subject to
civil penalty of three times the amount of actual damages proximately
suffered by the person seeking to obtain the lease or rental of real
property, and the person so damaged shall be entitled to an award of
costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, reasonable incurred in
connection with obtaining the civil penalty.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the advance payment of
rent, if the amount and character of the payment are clearly stated
in a written lease or rental agreement.
   (e) Nothing in this section shall prohibit any person from
charging a reasonable amount for the purpose of conducting reasonable
business activity in connection with initiating, continuing, or
renewing a lease or rental agreement for nonresidential real
property, including, but not limited to, verifying creditworthiness
or qualifications of any person seeking to initiate, continue, or
renew a lease or rental agreement for any use other than residential
use, or cleaning fees, reasonably incurred in connection with the
hiring of the real property.
   (f) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from
increasing a tenant's rent for nonresidential real property in order
to recover building operating costs incurred on behalf of the tenant,
if the right to the rent, the method of calculating the increase,
and the period of time covered by the increase is stated in the lease
or rental agreement.

Last modified: January 12, 2009