California's legislature previously passed an update to Civil Code Section 1938 which, effective as of July 1, 2013, required all commercial property leases to disclose whether or not a commercial premises has undergone an inspection by a Certified Access Specialist (CASp), and if so, whether the premises has been determined to meet all applicable construction-related accessibility standards under California law. In the exclusive commentary below, Payvand Abghari, an associate in the real estate and land use practice group at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, along with Michael C. Polentz, co-chair of the group, say that “owners and lessors of commercial properties are advised to take steps now.”

The views expressed in the commentary below are the author's own.

Following the amendment to Section 1938, compliance with the amendment was achieved by plugging boilerplate disclosure language into leasing agreements. Notwithstanding such practices, the anecdotal experience seemingly suggested that further steps needed to be taken to bolster the amount of information prospective tenants of commercial properties are provided concerning a premises' compliance or non-compliance, as the case may be, with such standards.