Skip to main content

Com. Code, § 10304 · Chapter 3. Effect of Lease Contract

Com. Code, § 10304

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) Subject to Section 10303, a subsequent lessee from a lessor of goods under an existing lease contract obtains, to the extent of the leasehold interest transferred, the leasehold interest in the goods that the lessor had or had power to transfer, and, except as provided in subdivision (b) of this section and subdivision (d) of Section 10527, takes subject to the existing lease contract. A lessor with voidable title has power to transfer a good leasehold interest to a good faith subsequent lessee for value, but only to the extent set forth in the preceding sentence. If goods have been delivered under a transaction of purchase, the lessor has that power even though:

(1) The lessor’s transferor was deceived as to the identity of the lessor;

(2) The delivery was in exchange for a check which is later dishonored;

(3) It was agreed that the transaction was to be a “cash sale”; or

(4) The delivery was procured through fraud punishable as larcenous under the criminal law.

(b) A subsequent lessee in the ordinary course of business from a lessor who is a merchant dealing in goods of that kind to whom the goods were entrusted by the existing lessee of that lessor before the interest of the subsequent lessee became enforceable against that lessor obtains, to the extent of the leasehold interest transferred, all of that lessor’s and the existing lessee’s rights to the goods, and takes free of the existing lease contract.

(c) A subsequent lessee from the lessor of goods that are subject to an existing lease contract and are covered by a certificate of title issued under a statute of this state or of another jurisdiction takes no greater rights than those provided both by this section and by the certificate of title statute.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 111, Sec. 26. Effective July 15, 1991.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=COM&sectionNum=10304.
Text hash
sha256 c75d54c5671ad444b34f4825e60a9261d1bb9f97123612b3904310fa837281d4
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

This section cites

Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.

Cited by 4 provisions

Provisions in this library whose text cites Com. Code, § 10304. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.