My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California.
Greetings, and preliminary thank you to those taking the time to read.
Summary:
I have recently been the target of what I believe to be clear cut landlord retaliation, and have documented threatening communication from my landlords that appears to foreshadow this retaliation. I have availed myself of these forums and any other online resources I could find, but would like to check my understanding of the law and my rights against the wisdom of this community.
Background:
I have lived in the same unit, owned by the same landlords, for the last 10+ years. They have proven to be untrustworthy and duplicitous, but tolerable--our interactions are civil but I try to avoid them as much as possible. Previous rent increases have always been delivered to me by hand, in person, and I have been present to receive them. This past March I received a text message to my mobile phone informing me of an increase in monthly rent of $300. I expected a notice to be delivered personally or by mail, but no further notice was served.
Fast forward to about two weeks ago, when I emailed my landlords the following.
"I am writing to you in regards to a text message I received informing me of an impending increase to my monthly rent. Per California Civil Code Section 827, legal service of such a notice must be either in person, or mailed with five additional days notice. As I received neither of these, I have paid my monthly rent in the normal amount of $X,XXX, and will continue until proper notice is served.
In case you did mail the notice and it got lost somehow, my apologies. Please provide postmarked proof of mailing and I will immediately write a check for the difference between the two amounts, and continue monthly at the new rate."
Response:
My landlords did not reply via email, but rather via text message. The response contained the following pertinent details--
- Identification of landlord's name and role as property management
- Acknowledgement of my claim that proper notice was not given, including specific dollar amounts detailing the increase
- Acknowledgement that they did not mail the notice
- Counter-claim that they left the notice taped to my door
- Ominous threat stating that they would deliver a new notice if I believed I was not given proper legal service, but that I may be "better off to honor the previous notice" and that once they serve the new notice they will have no choice but to go by the new notice.
That last bit being a clear allusion to retaliatory action should I persist in exercising my legal rights.
I responded to that text again stating that I received no other notice aside from the initial text message, noting that their previous response could be interpreted as threatening. I stated that I was under no obligation to honor their rent increase via text message, and told them that I would wait to receive the new notice by mail.
Retaliation:
About a week later I received a letter via certified mail from my landlords. It was their standard notice for rent increase, but this time the increase was $500 instead of $300. In response to me exercising my legal rights, they threatened retaliatory action and when I didn't back down they actually increased the increase! I never received a paper notice for what they claim was the initial increase, but I have my landlord clearly stating via text the amount that they intended this increase to be, twice--once when they initially messaged me to tell me about it, and again when responding to my email claim of no legal service. It's crystal clear to me that they raised my rent an additional $200/mo to recoup their losses and punish me for calling them on their failure.
It's my layperson's understanding that CA Civil Code Section 1942.5 provides protection for a tenant against a landlord taking retaliatory action due to a tenant's exercising of a legal right.
Questions:
Do I understand correctly that I have the legal right to refuse to honor my landlord's rent increase via text message? They clearly didn't deliver it in person, and admitted in writing that they didn't mail it either.
Assuming I'm correct, what should I do?
Should I inform my landlords that their further increase constitutes retaliatory action and give them the opportunity to retract it?
Or do I keep the cards close to my vest, and lawyer up immediately? I've read advice articles elsewhere online that suggest immediately going to small claims if you believe you can prove retaliation, and that if you win, your landlords may be liable for your legal costs. I certainly believe I can prove retaliation.
Would another option be perhaps to have a lawyer send an official letter on my behalf to try to get them to back down, before actually going to court?
Please advise. A $300 increase is bad enough, but $500 is insane and I would absolutely prefer to fight that if I can.
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read.

