
Quoting
Vendor
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California.
Hi, I could do with some advise on how to handle my lease renewal situation. First of all, my city does not have rent control, which means that my (corporate) landlord can charge whatever it wants as rent. Second of all, yes, I know I can always move but I have a complicated personal situation that restricts my ability to move out from the city where I currently live (at least for the next year).
My lease expires at the end of February. Landlord sent me a lease renewal notice in the middle of December with rent proposed that is $300 above what the company was advertising property for on Craig's List, etc. When I asked why they would expect me to pay more than market rates, they claimed that the current rate is for immediate to late January move-in, while my lease is a March to February lease, and that they "predicted" that the proposed rent would be market rate in late February ! I objected, asking why they want me to sign the lease renewal NOW and why I cannot wait (until end of January) to see what the market rate is for leases renewing at the end of February, to which they responded that if I did not sign the renewal by Jan 5, then it would taken as me giving them 60 days' notice ! My current lease only stipulates a 30 day notice, but I suspect that they are doing this because they expect rents to be lower than the rate they are "predicting" as market rate in late February (aka the rent they want me to renew for).
Is there a way to fight this coercion aka the demand for a 60 day notice, when my current lease agreement only stipulates a 30 day notice ? I want to see what the market rate is at the end of January before I sign anything. If market rate is indeed lower, can they still force me to renew my lease at a higher rate than market ? I feel that they are discriminating against me (do not want to go into details here for privacy reasons) and this sort of confirms my suspicion. I am also concerned that they might re-draw the lease to charge a rent that would be absolutely unaffordable for me to force me out if I continued to question their demand for either my immediate renewal or giving them notice.
Kindly advise. Thank you !