Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Raise in the rent

Pay the rent. I assume that if you have a lease, the lease term is for less than a year. The landlord cannot legally raise the rent contrary to the terms of a lease agreement. If you once had a written lease agreement, that agreement may have had some language controlling "hold over" periods, the time after the lease. Check and see what that provision, if any, says. Generally a lease will provide that the holdover is on a month to month basis, so the landlord will be within his legal rights to raise the rent once a month. You could try to get a written agreement for a longer-term rental price. Good luck.