Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You are potentially correct that the zoning is not a problem. You do, however, need to check with the City or County (depending on whether the house is in an incorporated city or not) to ensure that the structure is legal. I just answered a question from someone who posted to LawGuru who was given 5 days by the city to move from the home he rented because they determined it to be an illegal structure. The City's right to condemn a property absolutely outweighs your lease agreement with the owner. If you don't want to get thrown out, just be sure it is a legal, habitable structure before signing any lease.

Second, I have to tell you that I do not like the sound of what's going on here. Because there aren't enough facts to know for sure, I am going to assume that the son had the lease before Mom sold her 1/2 interest. Accordingly, I therefore assume that the new "partner" bought his interest knowing that the property was leased to a third party. Can he terminate your lease because he did not approve the sub-lease? It depends in part on the language in the lease itself. If the lease gave the tenant (the son) the absolute right to assign the lease or sub-let, then you may be safe. If, however, as most leases require, this lease requires the consent of the landlord to assign or sub-let the property, then you have a problem, and you had better get the "partner's" consent before signing any lease. As a 50% owner, the "partner" inherits whatever rights Mom had to begin with, and if she had the right to approve or disapprove a sublease, then so does the new partner. I would really, really think long and hard before getting into such a mess - this is just not likely to end well.

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So the property now has two 50% owners. Each of two owners, whether tenants in common or joint tenants, has full and overlapping rights of possession, occupancy and use of the property. Theoretically, then, the mom could rent (indirectly) to you, and the other (new) owner could rent to X. That would make you and X roommates, each deriving a right to occupy the entire property through lease from an owner who held those rights.

What would happen then? Whoever moved in and got possession first would have a slightly superior right, because the other "roommate" could not assert his right to share possession without the possibility of a breach of the peace. The johnny-come-lately would have to go to court, claim an "ouster," and try to get a court order restoring him to co-possession. He would then have the sheriff accompany him to your front door. "Hello, roomie!"

The foregoing is a bit fanciful, but shows the potential difficulties of entering into a rental agreement with a half owner. They don't own half the house. They own a half interest in the entire house. (Co-owners often adjust their rights by contract. Often, one gives the other the right to lease the entire property in exchange for a share of the income).

The bottom line is that I would expect difficulties to arise unless you can work something out with the other co-owner. He may be pleased to have a renter in the house if his prime interest is in the industrial aspects and/or is looking for income. By the way, a co-owner would be entitled to share in the net income from rentals to non-owner third parties such as yourself.

You should ask to see the lease between your friend and his mom, to see if it prohibits subleassing of the premises.