Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: rental and deposit increase

They can evict you for breach of the terms of the tenancy. They will have to serve you a pay or quit notice first.

Re: rental and deposit increase

I assume, but can't be sure, that you are on a month-to-month basis, despite having been there six years. I also assume you are not in a rent-controlled community; if you are, you'll have to check locally.

I'm a little surprised that you don't seem to object to paying $300 more every month, but do find putting up $400 once to be beyond your means. Most people would argue the other way around.

Well, in any case, I think your best bet is to find your old landlord and try to work out a special deal with him, based on your loyalty to the place. After all, not having a vacancy for all that time is valuable to a landlord, and deserves some particular attention to the tenant's needs. The management company probably knows nothing of your history. Your six years of problem free (?) tenancy should give you a reason to negotiate a lower, not a higher, security deposit.

There are legal caps on security deposits - see Civil Code section 1950.5 - and I think for an unfurnished place it is 2X the monthly rent. By increasing the rent $300 and the security deposit by $400, no illegal situation is created; the security deposit increase could have been $600, I think.

As to eviction, remember that a month-to-month tenancy is easy for either the landlord or tenant to terminate on 30 days' notice, for any good reason or for no reason at all - so the answer to the "can they evict me?" question is "of course."

If you are on a longer-term lease, almost everything in my answer would be different. A lease "locks in" the terms and conditions for its duration.

Re: rental and deposit increase

If you have been there for 6 years, they probably appreciate you as a good tenant. Ask if you can increase your security deposit over time, like $50 per month. If that doesn't work, just send the extra $50 with a note that says something like, "partial payment of increased security deposit encosed. I still owe $350 and will add more at least once per month until you have the full $400."

The hassle of trying to evict you would probably cause any reasonable person to just wait for the money to trickle in instead.

Good luck

They will probably not try to evict you