North Beach Man Hit With Wrenching Rent Increase from $1,800 to $8,000 a Month

North Beach, CA -- Do you think you could handle an increase in your rent from $1,800 to $8,000? No? Well neither can Neil Hutchinson, 47, who has lived in the apartment building at Columbus and Scotland streets for the past six years.

Whether he will be able to stay there another year though is a lot less clear than it was prior to June 1st.

According to SFGATE, Hutchinson received notice from his landlord in March that his monthly rent would increase from $1,800 to $8,000. The increase went into effect June 1, and while Hutchinson is fighting it through the San Francisco Rent Board, his landlord recently served him an eviction notice, which states he has to be out by June 21st. The San Francisco Rent Board's decision won't be finalized until August.

According to the Rent Board's automated answering service, the limit on rent increases from March 1st of 2016 to February 28th of 2017 are 1.6%, unless the tenant is moving into a previously vacant apartment.

The tremendous rent hike is being called one of the largest ever by the San Francisco Tenant's Union, according to the New York Daily News.

"I've basically been hit with a rent increase of 400 percent," Hutchinson told ABC News. "I don't know where I'm going to go if i have to leave here."

According ABC News, when asked about the rent hike Scott Weaver of the San Francisco Tenants Union told them "I don't know if there's been one that large. There could have been, but I don't remember one."

According to Rent Jungle, the average apartment rent over the past 6 months in San Francisco has increased by 6.6 percent, or $249 dollars.

Good Earth Realty, which manages Hutchinson's building, did not return Patch's request for comment.

Image of Hutchinson's building courtesy of Google Earth.