If a lease is not signed by the landlord, there is no lease; thus they can charge anything they want until it is signed, sealed and delivered.

For both the Civil Cover Sheet (CM-010) and the Pleading for Contract Complaint (PLD-C-001), do you write in the firm's name?

Yes, you can always include the firm name in captions on the standardized pleading forms, as long as there is room.

Usury Laws for Secured Note for CA investment real estate

Be careful. If your Note contains a default rate of interest, let's say 3% higher than the Note rate, and the Note rate is 9%, and a default...

Tenants have outstanding balance with utility companies - Can we use security deposit to pay?

Maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on two things, one, whether you are the account holder at the utility company and responsible to pay the bills,...

Can a hard money lender foreclose on expired note w/no notice & nothing in writing while still accepting & cashing my checks?

When you say the loan expired, I assume you mean it matured. When the loan matured, the lender could begin foreclosure. Since you were paying...