Consumer Protection: Translated Copy of Contracts Expands Requirements to Include Co-Signers or Any Person Signing the Contract

The requirement of providing a translated copy of a contract negotiated primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, is expanded to include any person signing the contract, not just the parties to the contract.

Current law requires that any person engaged in a trade or business who negotiates primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, in the course of entering into specified contracts, deliver to the other party to the contract or agreement, prior to the execution thereof, a translation of the contract or agreement in the language in which the contract or agreement was negotiated that includes a translation of every term and condition in that contract or agreement.

A lease, sublease, rental contract or agreement, or other term of tenancy contract or agreement, for a period of longer than one month, covering a dwelling, apartment, mobile home, or other dwelling unit normally occupied as a residence are included in the types of contracts to which the translation requirement applies.

However, currently there is no requirement to provide translated versions of the contract or agreement to co-signers or other nonparties to the contract who are nevertheless signing the contract.

This new law expands the translation requirement so that a person engaged in a trade or business who negotiates primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, orally or in writing, in the course of entering into the applicable contracts, must provide a translated contract or agreement to any person signing the contract, not just the parties to the contract, and before the execution thereof.

Assembly Bill 3254 is coded as Civil Code Section 1632. Effective January 1, 2021.

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