Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Technically a person can not be an agent of himself. If the landlord wants to be dealt with directly and not give authority to anyone, then there is no agent. While it is wiser to do it, a written agreement can be made binding by specific performance by a party even though they do not sign the contract. If the person acts in the same fashion they would have to act under the contract, then they have ratified/confirmed the contract. If one person is named the exclusive agent some acts of another person might still allow for an implied agency, such as where the other person is clearly carrying out the instructions or desires of the exclusive agent.

I pretty much agree with Mr. Shers, because an exclusive agent can quite generally act through his employees and others who would technically be sub-agents. Overall, however, I suspect that there is a dispute going on that is only partially (or slightly?) disclosed by this question addressing a technicality. If you would like LawGuru attorenys to give you really useful counsel, maybe you should re-ask the question with full details. My offhand guess is that the lease can be enforced against you, and if necessary the landlord will sign a copy and attach it to a complaint to enforce the lease........but I can't be certain.

For contracts that do not have to be in writing to be binding (which a lease may be depending on its scope and duration) it does not matter if either of you signed it unless there is a dispute as to whether the written contract accurately reflects your agreement. A contract is not a paper thing; the paper thing memorializes an agreement that is the contract. For contracts that must be in writing to be binding, they only need to have been signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought. So there is no real question that the lease is binding on you. The question is whether it is binding on the landlord. I would suggest you simply insist that the landlord clear up this ambiguity either by ratifying the agent's action in signing it, or signing it himself.

You definitely have an ambiguity, and it is patent.