Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
legality of faxed leases and lease clauses
Before I moved in, I signed a very detailed and rather prohibitive lease agreement, as did my roommate. However, she signed a faxed copy (and faxed it back to the landlord) whereas I signed the original. Since we've moved in, our landlord has been harrassing my roommate to sign the original lease which she refuses to do based on the fact that she doesn't agree with certain clauses in the lease (e.g. no overnight visitors w/o consent). Also, there are clauses in our lease which we have found out go against local tenancy laws, such as the fact that the landlord does NOT need to give us 24 hr notice to enter our apartment (which he seems to do on a regular basis) and that we can't change our locks (even though local law states that it is our right to do so and that we don't even need to give a copy of the key to him). Whose law overrides who? Further, my roommate seems to think that she is not legally bound to the lease agreement because the landlord has a fax of a faxed lease; otherwise, why would the landlord be so persistent about getting her to sign the original copy?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: legality of faxed leases and lease clauses
Generally, faxed signatures are as good as an original, so your roommate is probably bound by the main terms of the lease.
Your landlord cannot put in terms that violate state law. Reasonable notice (24 hours) is required, and there are only specific reasons that they are allowed to enter (they can't just come in because it's Thursday).
They could have problems enforcing the "no overnight" clause as a violation of quiet enjoyment.
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