Apartment owner raises rent... (San Francisco, Oakland: section 8, foreclosed, rentals)

[Grant319]

ON JUST ME! I have a month to month agreement, have never been late, and had no issues. I take very good care of my apartment (the owner sent assessors recently to look at my unit because it is the nicest), and the next thing you know, a month later my rent gets raised by 100.00. NONE of the other tenants in the building (all were asked) have received a raise. Not only do I now pay 1,300.00 a month, but I also found out my neighbor (same two-bedroom unit) is only paying 1,100.00. Do I have any options? I feel slighted. My wife is pregnant, and this is a very inopportune time. Thanks in advance for any/all help.

[Bushrod King]

When you rent month to month that's what happens, it's why most people chose not to do month to month unless you don't plan on staying long.

[clongirl]

Unfortunately it's entirely legal for the landlord to do this on a month to month lease rather than a yearly lease. You should carefully read over your paperwork just to make sure that this was stated. The only recourse might be to ask the landlord to put you on a yearly lease after accepting the increase in rent. He may think you're good, responsible tenants and may want to keep you rather than taking a risk with having new people move in and completing more credit checks, advertising, etc.

[pch1013]

Unless you're in a city and building covered by rent control, you're SOL. And the amount the other tenants pay is irrelevant -- each of you has a separate agreement with the landlord.

If you're in SF (doutbful, if you're paying only $1300 for a 2BR), you can try contacting the San Francisco Tenants Union but there's probably not much they can do for you, besides offering sympathetic words of support.

[beb0p]

Unless you're in a rent controlled unit in a rent-controlled city, there's nothing you can do.

Considering the rent explosion we're experiencing now, a $100 increase is probably generous.

[sonarrat]

Even if you are in a rent-controlled building, there is an annual hard cap to how much the rent can be raised (which they can carry over to subsequent years to avoid losing tenants by raising the rent too frequently). It may be that it was your turn this year and next year it'll be everyone else. Or maybe they're on Section 8 and can't have their rent raised on them. You never know. There are a lot of variables.

[rparz]

I'm paying more than that for a tiny 1bd in Oakland and was lucky to get this.

Consider yourself in a decent spot, or look into moving.

[justinbro2002]

there is really nothing you can do. They can raise the rents as much as they want as long as they give your proper notice. Nowadays rents are going up alot because of the tech boom and all they people who were foreclosed on who now are renters. It is really hard on the people who aren't in the hot high paying tech jobs.

[Ms Kitty 98]

There was once a time when people could move freely from place to place in San Francisco without the hassle of over priced expensive rents. Then one day Trinity Property owner and CEO Angelo Sangiacomo decided to increase the rates of his rentals by 100%; so anyone that rented from him either had the choice to fork out the double rent increase or move out from his properties.
It was then that the rest of the greedy Landlords followed through with these outrageous inflated rent increases, Rent Control came to the rescue, so if you live in a rent control unit, building that was built before 1979 the landlord cant raise your rent when ever he feels like.
If you live in a rent control building your rent will go up at the end of each year from the day when you signed the contract, but that only pertains to San Francisco, if you live elsewhere you are at the mercy of your landlords.
The high tech jobs are driving the market up so things will only get more expensive, so many locals will remain in their rent control units for as long as they can; but those other people that work for the high tech industry, they deserve to get hosed.
People from all over the country flock to the Bay Area to take advantage of these high tech jobs that pay good money.
It is those in the middle that have lived in San Francisco for many years that see the cost of living increase with utilities and grocery bill's and everything just gets more and more crowded.

[mayorhaggar]

Be happy it's only $100.