Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
My landlord is raising my rent from $1325 up to $1586 a month. Our lease ends on November 1st, 2013. Our current rent is $1325 per month. They put a 30 day notice on our door on October 2nd, 2013 stating that our lease will automatically renew as a month to month rate starting on November 1st at the rate of $1586 per month. It went on to state that we had the option of renewing a 6 month lease for $1486 per month, or a 12 month lease for $1425 per month.
According to California Civil Code 827, they are required to give me a 60 day notice of a rent increase more than 10%, and a 30 day notice if it is less than 10%. They only gave me 30 days, exactly. This made it impossible for us to put in a 30 day move out notice.
My landlord is trying to claim, that our rent is much higher than $1325 per month, but that because of rent concessions the actual rent increase is only 4%. I've reviewed our lease and nowhere in it does it mentions any concessions of any kind.
The manager called me, and they are threatening that if we do not pay the increased rate, it will come out of our deposit. Since they didn't give us time to put in a 30 day notice, we are required to pay the additional months rent at the higher rate.
What should I do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
You misread the statute. Civil Code section 827 only applies to rental increases in periodic tenancies, in your situation month to month. You are not in a month to month tenancy, but rather by your own admission, you are under a lease for a fixed term that is expiring. You can either pay the lower rate for a new fixed term, or pay a higher rate for a month to month.
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