CAS Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of landlord-tenant relationship is created when the parties agree that the tenancy will last for a specific, fixed period with a definite end date?
- Periodic tenancy
- Tenancy at will
- Term of years (tenancy for years) (Correct answer)
- Tenancy at sufferance
Correct answer: Term of years (tenancy for years)
A term of years is distinguished by a fixed, predetermined duration agreed upon by the parties, with a certain start and end date.
Question 2: Under California Civil Code § 1941, the implied warranty of habitability in residential leases requires that landlords:
- Guarantee the property is completely free from all defects, latent or patent
- Ensure the property meets the tenant's personal comfort preferences
- Maintain the property in a condition fit for human occupancy throughout the tenancy (Correct answer)
- Repair only defects that existed before the tenancy commenced
Correct answer: Maintain the property in a condition fit for human occupancy throughout the tenancy
California's implied warranty of habitability requires landlords to maintain residential units in a condition fit for human occupation and to make necessary repairs throughout the tenancy.
Question 3: A tenant vacates a leased apartment before the lease term ends, claiming the landlord's persistent failure to provide heat constitutes constructive eviction. To prevail on this theory, the tenant must establish:
- That the landlord intentionally attempted to drive the tenant out of the premises
- A substantial interference with quiet enjoyment caused by the landlord's act or omission, plus the tenant's actual vacation of the premises (Correct answer)
- A minor but recurring breach that made the premises less comfortable over time
- That the landlord received notice and failed to cure the defect within 30 days
Correct answer: A substantial interference with quiet enjoyment caused by the landlord's act or omission, plus the tenant's actual vacation of the premises
Constructive eviction requires: (1) landlord conduct substantially interfering with quiet enjoyment, (2) notice to the landlord, (3) failure to cure, and (4) the tenant's actual abandonment of the premises.
Question 4: A commercial tenant assigns the remainder of a lease to an assignee without novation. Which statement best describes the resulting legal relationships?
- The original tenant is fully released from all obligations to the landlord upon assignment
- The assignee is in privity of estate with the landlord while the original tenant remains in privity of contract (Correct answer)
- The assignment severs all legal relationships between the original tenant and the landlord
- The assignee has no direct obligations to the landlord absent an express assumption agreement
Correct answer: The assignee is in privity of estate with the landlord while the original tenant remains in privity of contract
On assignment, the assignee enters privity of estate with the landlord, while the original tenant remains liable in privity of contract unless the landlord agrees to a novation releasing the original tenant.
Question 5: Under California AB 12, effective July 1, 2024, the maximum security deposit a landlord may collect from a new residential tenant is:
- Two months' rent for unfurnished units and three months' rent for furnished units
- One month's rent for most landlords, with a narrow exception allowing up to two months' rent for qualifying small landlords (Correct answer)
- Three months' rent for all residential units regardless of furnishing status
- No statutory cap — the parties may negotiate any amount in writing
Correct answer: One month's rent for most landlords, with a narrow exception allowing up to two months' rent for qualifying small landlords
AB 12 reduced the security deposit cap to one month's rent for most landlords; qualifying small individual landlords owning no more than two residential rental properties may charge up to two months' rent.
Question 6: Under California Civil Code § 1942.5, if a landlord initiates eviction proceedings within 180 days after a tenant has made a good-faith complaint to a public agency about habitability, the law:
- Automatically voids the eviction and awards the tenant three months' rent as statutory damages
- Creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliatory eviction, giving the tenant an affirmative defense to the unlawful detainer (Correct answer)
- Requires the landlord to obtain prior court approval before serving any notice to quit
- Imposes criminal liability on the landlord without requiring any further factual showing
Correct answer: Creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliatory eviction, giving the tenant an affirmative defense to the unlawful detainer
California Civil Code § 1942.5 establishes a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if the landlord acts within 180 days of the tenant's protected activity, which the tenant may assert as an affirmative defense to eviction.
Question 7: Under California law, when a tenant wrongfully abandons a leased property before the lease expires, the landlord's obligation is to:
- Accept the abandonment and sue only for rent that has already accrued to that date
- Leave the property vacant and collect all future rent installments as they come due under the lease
- Make reasonable efforts to re-let the property and mitigate damages (Correct answer)
- Immediately file an unlawful detainer action to obtain a judgment for the full remaining term
Correct answer: Make reasonable efforts to re-let the property and mitigate damages
California imposes an affirmative duty on landlords to take reasonable steps to re-let abandoned property and mitigate their damages rather than allow unpaid rent to accumulate.
CAS Bar Property Law 3
Which type of landlord-tenant relationship is created when the parties agree that the tenancy will last for a specific, fixed period with a definite end date?