Negotiating Leases in Other Languages

While negotiating a lease recently, I found it easier to speak Spanish to the prospective tenant. When we sat down to sign the lease, I used the PPMA Residential Tenancy Agreement sold by the SFAA. Is there anything wrong with this practice?

Yes. You have violated Civil Code section 1632. This law, which has been on the books since 1976, has recently been expanded to provide protection for Californians who speak, as a primary language, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. The legislation requires that any person engaged in a trade or business, such as a landlord, who negotiates the terms of a contract or agreement primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, must, before the contract is signed, deliver to the other party a full translation of the agreement, including a translation of every term and condition of that agreement.

A contract or agreement subject to this law is defined as any “lease, sublease, rental contract or agreement, or other term of tenancy contract or agreement, for a period of longer than one month,” for any residential rental unit. The translation requirement is waived if the tenant brings his or her own interpreter to the negotiations.

This law was enacted in response to perceived abuses by car dealers. Indeed, many Spanish-speaking customers were deceived when they went to purchase or lease a vehicle, and were sold on something much different than what was actually stated in the written contract that they signed.

Today, landlords have to be extremely careful about the ramifications of this law. A violation allows the tenant to rescind, or cancel, the lease. It may also cause complications during an eviction action. Ironically, landlords who negotiate in a foreign language typically do so in order to help the prospective tenant understand the terms of tenancy. Yet such a gesture could have adverse ramifications.

Thus, most practitioners advise that all leases be negotiated in English. Translating the PPMA lease would cost thousands of dollars. Moreover, given the many dialects of these five languages, an owner would be hard pressed to ensure that a proper translation for a particular tenant was even rendered. In addition, lease addendums or modifications, and possibly even eviction notices, would also have to be translated. (For example, a court recently ruled that an automobile loan negotiated in Spanish would require a deficiency and repossession notice to be translated as well.) Therefore, because of this law, do not try to accommodate your non-English speaking tenants by negotiating the lease in their language. Instead, negotiate in English, and put the burden on the tenants to have the terms translated.

DW