A rental law question for any legal experts out there:

We’ve been renting at Seagate Condominiums in Carlsbad while waiting to purchase. When we moved in, we signed an 8 month lease agreement that, per the agreement, defaults to a month to month at the end of August (pretty standard stuff). We recently purchased nearby, but we won’t close escrow until the end of September so we need to go month to month for one more month, which is allowed by the lease agreement.

The landlord sent us notice 30 days in advance that the rent would increase from $1840 (including water/trash) to $2050, which they said was “market rate”. That’s an 11.4% increase. When we went to give our notice, they also informed us that there was an additional $200 “fee” for going month to month, bring Sept rent to $2250, a 22.3% increase over August!

My understanding from various rental law websites is that the landlord must give you at least 30 days’ advance notice if the rent increase is 10 percent (or less) of the rent charged at any time during the 12 months before the rent increase takes effect. The landlord must give you at least 60 days’ advance notice if the rent increase is greater than 10 percent of the rent charged at any time during the 12 months before the rent increase takes effect.

So my question is: IS THE 22.3% RENT INCREASE LEGAL because they are calling part of it a “fee” or because the original agreement ends in August and defaulting to a month to month make makes the 60 day notice null and void? The landlord is adamant that a “fee” is not “rent” and that none of this matters because the original 8 month lease expires in August and “if we don’t like it we can leave”. But since transitioning to month to month was allowed (with no stipulated rate increase) in the original agreement, it seems to me that the 60 day notice should legally still apply.