No habla Ingles? Soon your lease agreement must pay heed

Question: A friend is writing this letter for me. I’m new to America and my first language is Chinese, not English. When I applied for a rental recently, the manager and I spoke in Chinese but she had me sign a rental agreement that was printed in English. It has several statements I do not understand. Should I have received a rental agreement printed in Chinese?

Answer: Right now the answer is no. However, after July 1, 2004, Civil Code 1632 may require landlords to provide a written lease or rental agreement in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean in certain cases.

If the landlord or agent conducts negotiations in one of these languages, the rental agreement needs to be in the same language unless the tenant provides an adult interpreter to translate it. Subsequent notices such as a Notice of Change of Terms must be in the original language used, but not routine documents such as receipts.

For now, ask your landlord for an agreement in Chinese or have your friend explain the statements you do not understand.

Law changes for landlord entry

Question: My landlord and I are very good friends. We both feel uncomfortable about requiring her to give me a written notice to enter my unit whenever repairs are necessary. We want to just talk to each other instead of being so formal. Would we be breaking any laws?

Answer: You and your landlord are in luck. Effective Jan. 1, 2004, there was a change to Civil Code 1954 that covers entry into rental property. The code now requires that a notice to enter give not only the date but also an approximate time and the purpose of the entry; the code also now allows for oral agreements.

As with written notices, the oral agreement must include an approximate time and the purpose of the entry and must be completed within one week of the agreement.

As long as you two remain good friends, an oral agreement may work, but remember that oral agreements are always subject to misunderstandings. Even between friends, it might be a good idea to write down the details.

Single agreement for 3 roommates

Question: Two of my friends and I are planning to rent an apartment as roommates. We each want a separate rental agreement, but the manager says no. She says we must all be on the same agreement. Can she do this?

Answer: A landlord has no obligation to provide individual rental agreements for roommates. Having a separate lease or month-to-month agreement for each of you could be cumbersome for the property owner. For example, the property owner would have to assign a portion of the monthly rent to each of you as well as divide up other rental responsibilities, such as payment of utilities, and collection of any security deposit.

With separate agreements, if one of you were unable to pay her portion, the property owner would not be able to hold the others responsible for the unpaid balance. The same concept applies to the security deposit because a deposit is assigned to the rental property and not to an individual tenant. If one of you moved, the owner would have difficulty determining what deductions, if any, to withhold from that person’s deposit while there were still tenants in the unit.

This column is prepared by Project Sentinel, a rental housing mediation service in Sunnyvale, Calif. Questions may be sent to 1055 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Suite 3, Sunnyvale, CA 94087, but cannot be answered individually. For housing questions, complaints o r help, call the state Department of Fair Housing and Employment at (800) 233-3212 or the Southern California Housing Rights Center at (800) 477-5977.