Abers

FACTS

This case involves a dispute over a provision in a series of identical ground leases underlying a condominium development. The property is owned by the trustees of the John and Vera B. Rohrs Trust, Dated May 16, 1961, and the terms of the leases specify payment of a fixed monthly rent for the land under each unit for initial 30 years and six months of the 70-year lease term, but thereafter allow the rents to be adjusted based on a re-valuation of the “leased land.” If the parties are unable to agree on the proper amount of a rent adjustment, the issue was to be resolved by arbitration. Unfortunately, the parties could not even agree on the definition of the “leased land” to be valued, and thus initially sought declaratory relief from the court to resolve that issue. In a published opinion, this court declared that the leased land to be valued was defined as “each lessee‟s interest in his or her individual condominium unit . . . and his or her undivided fractional interest in the common areas within parcel one or parcel three, depending upon whether the unit is located in first or second phase of the project.” (Abers v. Rounsavell (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 348, 363-364.)

3 The…