North Beach tenant's rent increased from $1,800 to $8,000 a month

Photo: Google Maps The apartment building on the corner of Columbus and Scotland...

It's being called one of the largest rent increases ever in San Francisco.

A North Beach tenant recently received notice from his landlord that the rent on his apartment was going up from $1,800 a month to $8,000.

Neil Hutchinson, who has lived in the building at Columbus and Scotland streets for six years, has been hit with a rent increase of 344 percent.

Hutchinson, 47, said the increase went into effect on June 1, and is fighting it through the San Francisco Rent Board. But he says the landlord recently served him an eviction notice, stating he has to be out by July 21, and the rent board decision won't be finalized until August.

"I could be evicted before that decision comes through," Hutchinson told ABC 7. "So, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I'm struggling here."

Hutchinson told SFGATE his apartment is three bedrooms and in deplorable condition. When he moved into the apartment in 2010, he signed a lease and was living with roommates. The master tenant moved out in July 2015, and he says the landlord is now claiming that he's not on a lease.

"They've accepted money from me," Hutchinson said. "I filled out an application. They are saying the lease is not applicable to me. As far as I'm concerned the rent control should apply to me."

Working as a video engineer at San Francisco conventions, Hutchinson says living in the city is crucial to his career.

"If I have to move to say Vallejo, it would be very economically hard to produce the same number of hours," he said. "My life is in San Francisco. I don't have a car. The commute would be brutal to my career."

San Francisco's rental market is notoriously crazy as the Bay Area's tech industry booms, and the median rent per month in North Beach, according to Trulia, over the past month is $6,850 a month (Note: this number is based on all rental units, whether studios or three-bedroom homes).

This photo shows the deplorable condition of Neil Hutchinson's apartment. This photo shows the deplorable condition of Neil Hutchinson's apartment. Photo: Neil Hutchinson Photo: Neil Hutchinson Image 1 of / 104 Caption Close North Beach tenant's rent increased from $1,800 to $8,000 a month 1 / 104 Back to Gallery

Last year, Bernal Heights tenant Deb Follingstad made headlines when she posted a notice from her landlord on Facebook stating that her rent is jumping from $2,145 to $8,900. The post was shared thousands of times by people who were shocked by the increase.

SFGATE attempted to reach out to the landlord, but hadn't heard back at the time of publishing this story.