Abers

These appeals concern a Santa Ana condominium project that falls somewhere between owning a home and renting it. Plaintiffs (the homeowners) purchased a leasehold interest in their individual homes in a 150-unit condominium project. Each has been assigned a single-unit ground lease with lessors, the trustees of a family trust.

The ground leases are for a long term (75 years), with a rent adjustment clause for increasing the rents after 30 years. The rent adjustment clauses call for reassessing the ground rent based on a percentage of the appraised value of the “leased land.” It is now time to adjust the ground rents.

What meaning should be given for the term “leased land,” as used in the 150 single-unit leases? The homeowners contend that we should look to the four comers of each ground lease, which basically describes the “leased land” as the individual condominium unit, as well as a small fractional share of part of the common areas. The trustees urge us to consider extrinsic evidence to expand the definition of “leased land” to include the entire condominium acreage, including the land underneath the complex’s recreation center, which is the subject of a separate…