This article discusses several of the affirmative defenses available to commercial tenants who have received an illegal detainer (eviction) lawsuit in California.

Many commercial tenants may be under the impression that there are very few defenses they can use. Is not always that way. This article will discuss some of the defenses that can be used in the right situations, but it does not cover all possible defenses, only the most common ones.

For example, while most commercial landlords and many commercial tenants might scoff at the idea that any commercial tenant could have access to a breach of the implied warranty of habitability, even in California, this is not always the case for homes. small business operations, as stated. in two decisions of the Court of Appeal.

And commercial tenants can also assert their landlord retaliatory eviction defense. Retaliatory eviction is most often found in cases where the landlord attempts to evict a tenant for an inappropriate reason, increasing their rent after the tenant has complained of problems with their rent, decreased services, or other actions that clearly intended to be retaliation.

The California Supreme Court declared more than 30 years ago that both residential and commercial tenants have a common law affirmative defense for retaliatory actions by landlords. In that same case, the California Supreme Court also stated that “the doctrine of retaliatory eviction is based on the premise that a landlord can normally evict a tenant for any reason or no reason, but cannot evict him for a reason. improper. .. “

And there is NO time limit for the retaliatory eviction common law defense, although waiting too long to assert that the defense is obviously not a good idea.

Commercial tenants in California can also assert constructive eviction as an affirmative defense.

The concept of constructive eviction exists under the principle of non-compliance with the agreement of quiet enjoyment that is implicit in every rental contract. A tenant can assert this ground as an affirmative defense when the landlord’s actions or omissions so interfere with the tenant’s right to “peaceful and beneficial possession” of the rental unit that the unit or a portion of it becomes uninhabitable.

If the landlord has rented the premises without obtaining any Certificate of Occupancy, a commercial tenant can claim that any lease for the Property in question is not enforceable, so the landlord cannot obtain any judgment for unpaid rent, although he is entitled to a judgment for possession. . Many jurisdictions in California, both city and county, require that a Certificate of Occupancy be obtained before any building can be occupied.

The author sincerely hopes that you have enjoyed this article and found it informative.

Sincerely,

Stan burman