Need lawyer to review construction contract and residential lease

[Matt A.]

I own a one single unit condo in Oakland, CA and am having trouble finding an attorney to hire to assist me with the following three things. The ones I reached out to only seem to work on large multi-unit buildings, not single unit condos. Any recommendations toward an attorney I can hire for a small single unit condo project like this?

1. Review contractor's contract (before I sign it) for the renovation I plan to have done on my condo. The review is mainly to verify the contractor can't charge me more than the amount I believe I agreed upon with them.

2. Verify that once the above renovation is done (and I've installed various appliances I have in mind), the condo will be up to code enough to be able to rent out to a tenant. If  the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

3. Verify I'm using the correct lease paperwork to rent out the unit. If the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

Thank you!

[Matt K.]

Quote from @Matt A.:

I own a one single unit condo in Oakland, CA and am having trouble finding an attorney to hire to assist me with the following three things. The ones I reached out to only seem to work on large multi-unit buildings, not single unit condos. Any recommendations toward an attorney I can hire for a small single unit condo project like this?

1. Review contractor's contract (before I sign it) for the renovation I plan to have done on my condo. The review is mainly to verify the contractor can't charge me more than the amount I believe I agreed upon with them.

2. Verify that once the above renovation is done (and I've installed various appliances I have in mind), the condo will be up to code enough to be able to rent out to a tenant. If  the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

3. Verify I'm using the correct lease paperwork to rent out the unit. If the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

Thank you!

You don't really need a attorney for the first item. Most contracts like this aren't that complicated and it wouldn't be that hard to see the risks in them. Where there specific parts you had concerns about?

Second item going to fall on the licensed contractor. They'll be responsible for the work/permits. The city would then verify it's up to code. You could source this out to a home inspector if you wanted a second opinion.

Third item, you could just have the property management company do it (if you are using one). You should also check with your HOA to see if they have an addendum or if you're not using prop management you could ask them for a lease as well. If that fails you could always fall back to an attorney to draft one for you, but there's so many resources out there you wouldn't really need this. Oakland is pretty tenant friendly, so even the best lease isn't going to undo that. With that said, you still want to make sure you have a legal contract, not something pulled out of thin air.

[Osazee Edebiri]

Quote from @Matt A.:

I own a one single unit condo in Oakland, CA and am having trouble finding an attorney to hire to assist me with the following three things. The ones I reached out to only seem to work on large multi-unit buildings, not single unit condos. Any recommendations toward an attorney I can hire for a small single unit condo project like this?

1. Review contractor's contract (before I sign it) for the renovation I plan to have done on my condo. The review is mainly to verify the contractor can't charge me more than the amount I believe I agreed upon with them.

2. Verify that once the above renovation is done (and I've installed various appliances I have in mind), the condo will be up to code enough to be able to rent out to a tenant. If  the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

3. Verify I'm using the correct lease paperwork to rent out the unit. If the attorney can not verify this themself, I'd probably have them verify whichever property management company I hire is certified to verify this.

Thank you!

 HI Matt,

Your first two questions pertain to holding your contractor accountable to do a good job or quality work. So really you just need to go with a reputable contract. Reviews and recommendations from others. An attorney is not going to verify work is done to code. You can higher an inspector for during the work, should you want to verify that. Or if you contractor pulls permits, you can use the city to help you verify.

Question 3 - Just go with what the property manger uses. I see so many differently leases on a regular basis, all that is really important is that you attach the documents that the city of Oakland requires with those leases. Makes Oakland leases so long 😫