Cal. Codes » Civil Code / DIVISION 3. OBLIGATIONS / PART 4. OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM PARTICULAR TRANSACTIONS / TITLE 5. HIRING / CHAPTER 2. Hiring of Real Property
California Codes

Cal. Civil Code § 1951.4 (2026)

Hiring of Real Property

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(a)The remedy described in this section is available only if the lease provides for this remedy. In addition to any other type of provision used in a lease to provide for the remedy described in this section, a provision in the lease in substantially the following form satisfies this subdivision:

“The lessor has the remedy described in California Civil Code Section 1951.4 (lessor may continue lease in effect after lessee’s breach and abandonment and recover rent as it becomes due, if lessee has right to sublet or assign, subject only to reasonable limitations).”

(b)Even though a lessee of real property has breached the lease and abandoned the property, the lease continues in effect for so long as the lessor does not terminate the lessee’s right to possession, and the lessor may enforce all the lessor’s rights and remedies under the lease, including the right to recover the rent as it becomes due under the lease, if any of the following conditions is satisfied:

(1)The lease permits the lessee, or does not prohibit or otherwise restrict the right of the lessee, to sublet the property, assign the lessee’s interest in the lease, or both.

(2)The lease permits the lessee to sublet the property, assign the lessee’s interest in the lease, or both, subject to express standards or conditions, provided the standards and conditions are reasonable at the time the lease is executed and the lessor does not require compliance with any standard or condition that has become unreasonable at the time the lessee seeks to sublet or assign. For purposes of this paragraph, an express standard or condition is presumed to be reasonable; this presumption is a presumption affecting the burden of proof.

(3)The lease permits the lessee to sublet the property, assign the lessee’s interest in the lease, or both, with the consent of the lessor, and the lease provides that the consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or the lease includes a standard implied by law that consent shall not be unreasonably withheld.

(c)For the purposes of subdivision (b), the following do not constitute a termination of the lessee’s right to possession:

(1)Acts of maintenance or preservation or efforts to relet the property.

(2)The appointment of a receiver upon initiative of the lessor to protect the lessor’s interest under the lease.

(3)Withholding consent to a subletting or assignment, or terminating a subletting or assignment, if the withholding or termination does not violate the rights of the lessee specified in subdivision (b).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1985–2023 · leading case: Carma Developers (California), Inc. v. Marathon Dev. California, Inc., 826 P.2d 710 (Cal. 1992).
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Carma Developers (California), Inc. v. Marathon Dev. California, Inc., 826 P.2d 710 (Cal. 1992). · cites it 5× “In addition to any other type of provision used in a lease to provide for the remedy described in this section, a provision in the lease in substantially the following form satisfies this subdivision: “ ‘The lessor has the remedy described in California Civil Code Section 1951.4…”
Kendall v. Ernest Pestana, Inc., 709 P.2d 837 (Cal. 1985). · cites it 6× “(Civ. Code, § 1951.4, subd. (b)(3).) It is true that section 1951.”
City of San Diego v. Rider, 47 Cal. App. 4th 1473 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “(Civ. Code, § 1951.4; 4 Witkin, Summary of Cal.”
Hamilton v. Dixon, 168 Cal. App. 3d 1004 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 3× “) But if the written lease of real property provides that the lessor’s consent to an assignment or sublease “shall not unreasonably be withheld” (Civ. Code, § 1951.4, subd. (b)(3)), the lessor has an additional, and more attractive, remedy in the event of a breach by the tenant:…”
Blue Barn Assocs. v. Picnic 'N Chicken, Inc. (In Re Picnic 'N Chicken, Inc.), 58 B.R. 523 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. 1986). “Therefore, under California law there is clearly a distinction drawn between a breach of the lease and the termination of it.”
250 LLC v. Photopoint Corp.(usa), 131 Cal. App. 4th 703 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005). “Notwithstanding Landlord’s exercise of the remedy described in California Civil Code § 1951.4 in respect of an event or events of default, at such time thereafter as Landlord may elect in writing, to terminate this Lease and Tenant’s right to possession of the Premises and…”
GECCMC 2005-C1 Plummer Street Off. Ltd. P'ship v. NRFC NNN Holdings, 204 Cal. App. 4th 998 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012). “4 to apply, however, there must be a provision in the lease in substantially the following form: “ ‘The lessor has the remedy described in California Civil Code Section 1951.4 (lessor may continue lease *1002 in effect after lessee’s breach and abandonment and recover rent as it…”
Williams v. La Perla North Am., Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01633 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 19, 2023). · cites it 5× “Moreover, La Perla has not 7 plausibly alleged a failure to mitigate because absent the Landlord’s termination of the lease, an 8 affirmative duty to mitigate is contrary to Landlord’s rights under Lease Section 16.”
Williams v. La Perla North Am., Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01633 (N.D. Cal. July 20, 2023). · cites it 4× “2(a) and California Civil Code Section 1951.4. See (Dkt.”
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