Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

There is no law in California that gives a tenant - residential OR commercial - a grace period in which to pay their rent. If it's due on the first, then pay by the first, or it is late. That being said, however, often leases contain a three, five or seven day grace period. Read your lease, as that may be the only protection you have from her demanding payment by the first. If there is no grace period in your lease, or worse, you don't have a lease, then you need to get used to paying rent by no later than the first or she can give you notice, and evict you.

As for trying to make you pay a larger portion of the utilities, again, you must read your lease and determine what you agreed to pay. She cannot change the lease without giving you written notice, and in some instances, she cannot change the allocation of utilities contained in a lease. If you have no written lease, she can change it effectively to whatever she wants with a written notice. You have to forget everything you may know about residential leases, as commercial leases are completely different. The leasee in a commercial lease is pressumed to be a sophisticated business person, and as such, is protected by virtually no California law from what might otherwise seem to be abusive practices by landlords. You can, in a commercial lease, agree to some pretty amazingly unfair allocations of cost, and a court will generally uphold the landlord's position.

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