Owner Could Evict Tenant for Not Paying Additional Rent

A lease required the tenant to pay monthly rent and an annual lump sum payment as additional rent. The tenant didn't make the first annual lump sum payment. The owner sent the tenant a default notice giving it five days to “cure—that is, fix—the default by paying the additional rent. The tenant didn't make the payment, so the owner sued to evict it.

A California appeals court ruled that the owner could evict the tenant for not paying the additional rent. The court noted that the lease clearly required the tenant to pay additional rent, which the tenant admitted it didn't do. The owner sent the tenant proper notice and gave it a chance to cure the default by paying the additional rent. And the tenant admitted to getting the notice and still not paying the additional rent. So the court ordered the tenant to pay the owner more than $47,000, plus attorney's fees.

• Thee Sombrero, Inc. v. Fuentes: No. E038559, 2006 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 4758 (Cal. Ct. App. 5/1/06)].