Case Notes

The defendant landlord, Monterey Property Associates Anaheim, LLC, was the successor in interest to a lease entered into in 2001 between the predecessor landlord and the LA Fitness gym operator. The lease required the tenant to make “any repairs necessitated by … improvements made by or on behalf of the Tenant.” One improvement, made during the pre-lease term buildout phase, was the installation of a pool for the use of the tenant fitness club's members.

Through the years, whenever the roof over the pool needed repairs — and there were several such times — the landlord arranged to have the repairs made and paid for them. After the new landlord came on the scene, however, it wanted the tenant to pay, claiming that the pool was a tenant improvement and that the excess moisture it generated caused the roof failure. The tenant sought and obtained from the court a declaration that it was not responsible, the court adopting the findings of the referee, who concluded that the tenant improvements referenced in the disputed clause of the lease included only changes made after the lease took effect, not those made in the pre-lease buildout phase. The court also agreed with the referee's finding that the roof over the pool had deteriorated due to normal wear and tear, not because of any acts by the tenant, and that the lease called for the landlord to make any necessary repairs due to ordinary wear and tear.