Legal Corner Q & A
by Various Authors
Q.
When I rented an apartment, the tenant returned a photocopy of the lease with only a copy of his signature. I need to evict the tenant for breaching the no-pet provision. The tenant claims that since I do not have his original signature, I cannot enforce the written lease. What are my rights?
A. You may enforce the written lease agreement even though you do not have the tenant’s original signature. The law is only concerned with whether or not your tenant assented to the terms of the lease. A copy of your tenant’s signature is evidence of such assent.
The California Evidence Code states that a copy of a signature is as good as the original for evidentiary purposes, so long as the copy was made and preserved as part of the records of a business in the regular course of that business. Rental agreements held by landlords should qualify.
Now, if your tenant is claiming your copy of his signature is a forgery, this is a different story. The genuineness or trustworthiness of a contract and signature can always be an issue in court. Many handwriting experts, but not all, need an original signature to ascertain the genuineness of the signature.
In your case, the fact that you submitted a lease form and received it back from the tenant is evidence that your tenant signed and agreed to the terms. If your tenant also conducted himself in accordance with the written lease agreement—for example, by paying the rent to the location set forth in the lease and paying rent on time—the lease is said to have been ratified by the tenant.
– Clifford E. Fried
Q. How long may I bank the Rent Board fee? Can I collect from some tenants and not others?
A. Chapter 37A of the Administrative Code allows the city to collect a per-unit fee for each residential dwelling unit that is subject to the Rent Ordinance. The fee is billed to the owner each year as part of the property tax bill. The city permits the owner to collect a portion of the Rent Board fee from the tenant(s) in occupancy as of November 1 of each year. The fee must be deducted from the interest due the tenant on the deposit held, unless the owner has paid the interest payment annually to the tenant, in which case he/she can bill the tenant separately. If there is no security deposit, the owner can bill the tenant directly as well.
An owner can bank the fee and collect it in later years, but this applies only as far back as 1999. If an owner did not deduct the Rent Board fee before 1999, he/she has lost the right to collect it. A request to the tenant for payment of the fee must include
- a written explanation that itemizes the fee amount due for each year for which payment is sought, and
- an itemization of interest due for each year not paid.
Last, there is nothing in the law that prevents the landlord from collecting the fee from some tenants but not others. However, in general, a uniform policy for all tenants is a better approach. You want to avoid a situation in which a tenant can claim any kind of unlawful discrimination (for example, based upon race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability or for exercising their lawful rights as tenants).
– Lawrence M. Scancarelli & Jerod Hendrickson
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. The information contained in this article is general in nature. Consult the advice of an attorney for any specific problem. Clifford E. Fried is with Wiegel & Fried, LLP, 415-552-8230, www.wiegelfried.com; Lawrence M. Scancarelli and Jerod Hendrickson can be reached at 415-398-1644, www.sfrealestatelaw.com. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved