Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
If a person entered into a commercial lease with 3 other parties, and owned a restaurant on the site and at a later date that person entered into an agreement with the three other parties to sell out their interest in the restaurant, yet failed to remove his name from the commercial lease - is that person still liable in the event the remaining tenants are sued for non-payment of rent.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Yes, still on the hook for the lease. The landlord would need to agree to remove you from the lease.
Anyone on the lease is liable in full. Only the landlord can 'remove you from the lease' with an addendum or amendment.
Probably. Unless the lease expressly or impliedly provides otherwise, all persons signing a lease as tenant(s) are jointly and severally liable to the landlord. The landlord cannot double-collect, but it can pick and choose whom to dun and sue.
On the other hand, you are probably entitled to re-collect any improperly disproportionate rent you actually pay from the other cosigners, either under your original partnership (or whatever) agreement or the agreement to be bought out.
Hopefully the latter is in writing and well drafted, and your former associates are not broke.
Anyone named on a lease is going to be liable if the lease is breached. A new lease would have to be entered into for the selling party to no longer be liable for breaches of the lease by the remaining partners. This should be (have been) dealt with in the buy-out transaction.
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