Voiding a Lease Extension

[undetectable]

I am in CA, and I am trying to find out if I can get out of the lease extension I signed a few months ago due to some problems we are having with the landlord. Here is the full story:

We originally signed a 1 year lease, that states the agreement begins on 3/01/2004. It says the lease will terminate on 2/28/2005. Then it says Tenant shall vacate the premises upon termination of the agreement, unless:
(i)Landlord and tenant have in writing extended this agreement or signed a new agreement;(ii) mandated by local rent control law; or (iii) Landlord accepts Rent from Tenant (other than past due Rent), in which case a month-to-month tenancy shall be created which either party may terminante as specified in paragraph 2A.

Paragraph 2A reads:
Month-to-Month: and continues as a month-to-month tenancy. Tenant may terminate the tenancy by giving written notice at least 30 days prior to the intended termination date. Landlord may terminate the tenancy by giving written notice as provided by law. Such notices may be given on any date.

So, from my understaning of that, the lease turned into a month-to-month contract on 3/01/2005. Then, on 2/06/2006, we received, and admittedly signed, a lease extension. it reads like this:

This is a Lease Extension of that certain lease between the parties, landlord and _____ & ________ as individuals (tenants) dated February 10, 2004 for the unit at ________________.

Per the terms of the original lease, Landlord grants tenants the right to extend the term of this lease for 1 additional year, from March 1, 2006 to February 28, 2007.

Commencing March 1, 2006 the rent amount shall be $1,900 per month.
All other terms and conditions of the original lease shall remain in full force and effect.

So, he did this because he wanted to increase our rent. Which is another question, our rent was $1,800 previously, then he upped it to $1,900. Is that above the annual increase amount? He did not increase it after the 1st year, so he was making up for that this year.

My thinking is that we extended the original lease, but only as a month-to-month agreement. If so, we would be within our rights to give 30 days notice and leave. Am I correct?

We had a sewage leak in the the basement on Saturday night, and as of today, it still has not been properly cleaned up. The landlord tells us he is working on it, but the smell is terrible and the walls are wet. We also cannot use our garage because we had to remove our belongings form the basement into the garage.
This is why we want to mve, as we had this happen 2 years ago and the landlord got someone cheap to do the repair work, now it has happened again.

I apologize for making this so lengthy, and I would appreciate help greatly. Thank you.

[Fxston]

You would have to speak to a local lawyer. Your original lease expired before it was "extended." My gut says that his extension is null and void because a contract is not binding retroactively or for services or promises already performed. But, it is possible that a judge might interpret your extension as being binding for the for the months between the date the extension is signed and the expiration date.