Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I am military, my wife and I rent property in Rosamond CA since 2014 and are preparing to relocate per orders in Jun or Jul. Recently, citing "property values going up", our landlady has declared she is raising the rent by exactly 10%. While she did mail a signed notice, there is no postmark or indicator of what specific date the notice was mailed. Is this still an acceptable notice?

Additionally, I signed a lease in 2014. After reviewing it recently, the C.A.R. Form LR terminated May 2015. While it states the tenancy has moved to a "Month-to-Month" agreement, I was wondering if there was any other considerations I should be aware of.

Based on a history of minor issues within the property: IE. Discovering kitchen cabinets installed with dry-wall screws, splitting the frames, leading to doors falling off after living there. My concern is that the specific increase is less based on "value increase" and potentially retaliatory.

She had previously responded to a complaint about an inoperable Swamp Cooler by claiming I owed back-pay from 14 months prior until I politely indicated that per California code, back-pay cannot be claimed out past 12 months.

My families concern is upon departure, she will try to cite us for various "repair" charges, though we have photographed and recorded the very moment anything stopped working. Unfortunately, nothing has yet fallen under "Health & Safety" concerns such as the AC dying.

Is there any additional information you may be able to provide?


Asked on 1/25/17, 1:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

The only thing I could add beyond document and photograph everything, is that given how long you have been there, she must give you 60 days notice of any rent increase. If the notice is undated and not postmarked, you have a good argument that the 60 days starts from the date you received it.

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Answered on 1/25/17, 6:40 pm


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