10
Britton contends Rule 12.20 is preempted by section 827. Subdivision (a) of that
statute provides where a lease is from week to week, month to month, or another period
of less than a month, a landlord may, upon giving notice as provided in Code of Civil
Procedure section 1162, “change the terms of the lease . . . as to tenancies from month to
month, to take effect at the expiration of not less than 30 days . . . ; provided, however,
that it shall be competent for the parties to provide by an agreement in writing that a
notice changing the terms thereof may be given at any time not less than seven days
before the expiration of a term, to be effective upon the expiration of the term. [¶] The
notice, when served upon the tenant, shall in and of itself operate and be effectual to
create and establish, as a part of the lease, the terms, rents, and conditions specified in the
notice, if the tenant shall continue to hold the premises after the notice takes effect.”
Subdivision (b) provides that in all leases of residential dwellings from week to week,
month to month, or a period less than a month, “the landlord may increase the rent
provided in the lease or rental agreement, upon giving written notice to the tenant” either
by personal service or by mail pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1013. (§ 827,
subd. (b)(1).)8 Subdivisions (b)(2) and (b)(3) establish notice periods based on the
amount of the rental increase. Finally, subdivision (c) of section 827 provides: “If a state
or federal statute, state or federal regulation, recorded regulatory agreement, or contract
provides for a longer period of notice regarding a rent increase than that provided in
subdivision (a) or (b), the personal service or mailing of the notice shall be in accordance
with the longer period.”
As we have described, under Birkenfeld and its progeny, a municipality has
authority to limit the substantive grounds for eviction, but it may not interfere with the
procedural protections offered by state law. (Birkenfeld, supra, 17 Cal.3d at pp. 140–
153; Rental Housing Assn., supra, 171 Cal.App.4th at p. 754.) Nothing in Rule 12.20