In CA they can’t force you to sign a lease when you’ve been month to month. If they want to terminate your month to month, they must give you a 60 day notice to vacate. Also, if the building/complex you live in meets a certain set of rules (one of which it’s more than 15 years old), they cannot legally raise your rent more than 10% higher than at any point during the previous 12 months.

So in your case (most likely, but you’ll need to read up on the specifics for your city/county) they can either raise your rent a maximum of 10% and keep you at month to month, provide a lease option at x% raise for y months (usually a lower monthly price to incentivize people to lock into the commitment), or provide you with a 60 day notice to vacate if they don’t want to provide you with a month to month option.

In CA the rental market has a lot of protections to tenants, so a little Google and online research will help point you in the right direction 👍