Confidentiality Agreement and Stipulation for Entry of Judgment in Lease?

chadz11

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
This post is concerning an apartment in Los Angeles that is part of the city's rent stabilization ordinance. I paid the $500 apartment application fee, was approved, and was sent the lease today with my move in date set for tomorrow. However, upon reading the lease, I see a number of items that I find very concerning and was hoping to get the take of others with more experience on this than myself.

Items of concern:
1.) A "Stipulation for entry of judgement and order thereon"

It is written like a court verdict against me and even says "apartment owner/real estate company vs my name" and includes things that seem to imply that should there be any legal disagreement, I have no recourse and have already agreed that I should lose the case: "Resident expressly waives any and all rights to a noticed motion on the entry of a judgement pursuant to this Stipulation ... Resident agrees that he/she understands and expressly waives the following rights: to notice and an opportunity to be heard on the issue of any default in compliance, or violation of conditions staying enforcement of the filing of the Unlawful Detain action and/or judgement."

This part of the lease also includes a confidentiality clause: "Resident shall keep all details of this Stipulation/Release strictly confidential and they shall not communicate discuss, publish, comment or otherwise allow details of this Stipulation/Release to be disseminated". So I couldn't even talk about the stipulation with a lawyer?! I really don't see why this clause would be necessary unless the real estate company wanted to keep some shadiness they expect to be up to hush hush.

2.) An addendum to the main lease says that the landlord can make the living conditions as crappy as they like due to construction etc. and it will not be considered a violation of lease. Landlord will have the option to terminate the lease (60 days notice) if the apartment requires renovation or if access to the apartment is blocked and that they are under no obligation to give warning of this happening in the future. Later it says "In consideration for Lessor's Termination Option, Lessor has charged a reduced rental rate ... At the end of the Lease term, Landlord has the right to ... terminate Resident's tenancy with the appropriate notice, irrespective of the status of redevelopment and demolition at that time." Part of the appeal is that the apartment is rent controlled, so I was hoping to stay a few years so that the low, rent-controlled rent increases would start to pay off, but all this language makes it sound like they're going to try to evict people who have been there a while to get the rental rates back up. Does the LA stabilization ordinance protect against any of this?

3.) Violation of the lease if a guest spends more than 7 nights a month at the apartment. It seems like they're just looking for excuses to have someone violate the lease.


What does everyone make of this lease? Is this standard? Is it enforceable? Should I be concerned? I'd like to try to negotiate over the lease terms, but the company that owns the apartment is large and seeming inflexible and I'm supposed to move in tomorrow. Also, it's frustrating to risk losing the $500 application fee because they gave me such a bad lease agreement last minute. Do I have options here?

Also, I feel like other people should be warned about the lease before going through the processes. Would I be in violation of the confidentiality agreement if I posted it to yelp before I sign it?
 
If you dislike the terms or conditions of any contract, don't sign it, or negotiate terms with which you agree.

That said, landlords rarely agree to changes in the wording of leases.

No contract can require you to waive any right to which the law entitles you to receive.

However, to litigate that after you're signed a contract that you've agreed to waive such right is an expensive, lengthy process if the other party enforces such waiver.

If you don't understand a contract, have it evaluated by your lawyer before signing same.

It is never helpful to discuss the disagreement with the other party and acting upon the party's verbal representation indicating don't worry about that, I'd never try to enforce it to harm you.

I ask for changes in some contracts before signing same, if changes aren't made, I simply walk away without signing.

That's the easiest way not have a legal problem later.
 
Go back to the other site where you posted this and look up all the reference material that I gave you.

Would I be in violation of the confidentiality agreement if I posted it to yelp before I sign it?

If you don't sign it you are not bound by it and are free to post a copy anywhere you like. Just don't make any comments about it.

And don't count on getting your $500 back if you don't take the place.
 
Will do, thanks. Also, I would like to just say that I misspoke. The $500 was a deposit (unfortunately they didn't send the lease until after I made the deposit)
 
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