California Apartment Association

Question: Is there any way to impose a rent increase on tenants with a lease or do you have to wait until the lease is expired?  Can you raise rents on specific units and not all units?

Answer: You have to wait until the lease expires unless the lease term contained an automatic rent increase.  If there is an objective business reason, you can raise rent on some units and not others, as long as it does not violate fair housing laws.  Many owners increase the rent on the tenants’ anniversary dates.

Question: I have a tenant who has been late with the rent on a number of occasions. I charge him a late fee and he pays it. When his lease expires, do I have to renew?

Answer: Unless you are in a rent-controlled city, you are not required to renew a tenant’s fixed term lease and do not need to have or state a reason for non-renewal.

Question: We want to give notice to vacate to a renter of a garage who has been in occupancy for over one year. Can we give a 30-day notice or does the 60-day notice rule apply for garages as well?

Answer: You can give a thirty-day notice. Sixty-day notices are only required for residential property when the tenant has been in possession for one year or longer and the rental agreement is month-to-month.

Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP is a full service real estate law firm representing residential and commercial property owners and managers. This article is for general information purposes only. Laws may have changed since this article was published. Before acting, be sure to receive legal advice from our office. If you have questions, please contact your local KTS office. For contact information, please visit our website: www.kts-law.com. For past Legal Alerts, Questions & Answers, and Legal Articles, please consult the resource library section of our website.

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