Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: consumer price index changes

May be. It will be a question of contract interpretation. Keep in mind that there is a four year statute of limitations on breach of contract (lease) causes of action.

Re: consumer price index changes

I do not understand. Your rent is based upon the cpi, which except in a deflation is always going to be a positive number, even though it does not grow consistently at the same rate. So your rent is always going to go up if it tracks the cpi [I assume you are a renter]. What basis do you have to change the method of rent calculation?

Re: consumer price index changes

It's pretty clear to me that you are the landlord, not the renter.

Getting relief based on changes the government has made in the way the CPI is calculated would be a rough uphill battle. In choosing the Consumer Price Index as an inflator for a 50+ year lease, you or your precursor took a big chance, and I think you are stuck with the consequences of the CPI and the changes the government has made.

The fact that the CPI has risen less rapidly in recent decades is a result of less inflation, not government tinkering with the formula. Anyone remember the inflation crisis of the late 1970s?

The economics of long-term leases favor landlords whose rents are tied to the CPI, because in most cases their costs do not rise nearly as fast the consumer prices. For example, the initial equity investment in the property is made only once, at the outset. Loans used to buy the property get paid off. Improvements get depreciated to zero. Property taxes are held down by Prop. 13, and so on.

Furthermore, if you have had the same tenant for 52 years, you have an enviable vacancy rate of 0.

Although there are occasional grounds for renegotiating very old contracts, and indeed some outer caps on the length of leases, I don't read anything in your facts that suggests a legal basis for challenging the use of the CPI to adjust you rent, and in fact some other basis might be worse.