In San Francisco, a lot of property occupants are covered by the San Francisco Rent Ordinance which supplies lease control and simply cause for eviction. This suggests leas can only be raised by specific quantities each year and the renter can just be forced out for "simply triggers." In addition, some rental systems have limitations on how much the property owner can charge the new tenant due to previous evictions. The Rent Ordinance is administered by the San Francisco Rent Board.

Effective January 1, 2020, there is state rent control and just trigger required for eviction for lots of property units not covered under the Rent Ordinance. If the system does not fall under an exemption, then it is covered. For the units covered only under California rent control, annual rent boosts are topped at 5 percent plus the expense of living increase or 10 percent, whichever is lower, for renters who have actually occupied the unit for 12 months or more.

The Rent Board website has substantial details about the Rent Ordinance and you can download the San Francisco Rent Ordinance and Rent Board Rules and Regulations or concern our counseling center to learn more about the Rent Ordinance or state law. Tenants who do not have rent control can have their rent increased by any quantity at any time with an appropriate written notification.

Major Components of the Rent Control Under the Rent Ordinance

- Landlords can only raise a renter's lease by a set amount each year (tied to inflation). Landlords can likewise petition for other increases. Notably, capital enhancements can be passed through to the occupant for an optimal increase of 10% or increased operating and upkeep costs for a maximum boost of 7%, however these rent boosts must be documented and authorized by the Rent Board before they can be enforced. The tenant can ask for a challenge exemption for the capital enhancement and operating and upkeep passthroughs.

- Tenants can petition the Rent Board to decrease their lease if the proprietor has actually stopped working to offer concurred upon or legally needed services-e.g., the landlord takes away storage area, parking, washer/dryer, and so on or the property manager stops working to keep the properties as safe and habitable (e.g. the house has uncorrected housing code offenses).

- Tenants can just be evicted for one of 16 "just triggers" unless the occupant shares the rental system with their property manager. The majority of these expulsions deal with claims the occupant can contest (e.g., tenant is breaking the lease) but some are "no-fault" like owner relocation in or an Ellis Act eviction.

Rent Control Coverage Under the Rent Ordinance

If you live in San Francisco, you are normally covered by lease control. The major exceptions are:

- You reside in a rental system with a certificate of tenancy after June 13, 1979, with a couple of exceptions. This "brand-new building exemption" is the biggest exemption in San Francisco. The Assessor's database, is where you can usually discover the date your structure was built which will offer the approximate date for the certificate of tenancy. Illegal systems do not have a certificate of occupancy, so are covered under the Rent Ordinance unless exempt for other reasons. Some "accessory systems" typically called in-law units are still covered under lease control regardless of having a certificate of tenancy released after June 13, 1979. (SF Administrative Code Section 37.2( r)( 4 )( D)) Unauthorized systems that existed before June 13, 1979 and were brought up to code after that date are also still covered under lease control. However, reliable January 19, 2020, these more recent systems are no longer exempt from the rest of the Rent Ordinance due to their certificate of tenancy date.

- You live in subsidized housing, such as HUD housing projects. Tenants with tenant-based help such as Section 8 coupons are still covered by the expulsion protection of the Rent Ordinance, and sometimes covered by the lease control of the Rent Ordinance. Make a consultation with the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco for support for .

- You live in a domestic hotel and have less than 32 days of continuous tenancy.

- You reside in a dorm room, hospital, abbey, nunnery, and so on- You live in a single household home (see below).

Single Family Homes Including Condos Have Limited Rent Control Coverage

You normally do not have full rent control security if you reside in a single family home (a single family home with an unlawful in-law unit counts as a 2-unit building) or a condominium and you (and your roomies) moved in on or after January 1, 1996. While these systems do not generally have limits on lease boosts, they do have "just trigger" eviction security (unless otherwise exempt for reasons such as above), suggesting you can only be evicted for among the just triggers unless the renter shares the rental with their property manager.

Exception: If you moved into a single household home which was uninhabited due to the fact that the previous renter was kicked out after a 60 or one month eviction notice (a no-fault expulsion), then you have complete rent control security. (You can discover if there was a previous eviction by going to the Rent Board site or browsing for the property owner's name on the California Superior Court's site.)

Exception: If you moved into a single household home or condominium which had housing code infractions that were pointed out and uncorrected for at least 6 months before the vacancy, then you have full rent control. You can discover the code offense status of your structure at the Department of Building Inspection's website.

Exception: If you live in a condominium where the subdivider of the building still owns the apartments, you have complete lease control security, unless it is the last unsold unit and the subdivider lived in the unit for a minimum of a year after subdivision.

Commercial Units Used as Residential with the Landlord's Knowledge Are Not Exempt from Rent Control

Commercial spaces or live/work systems in which tenants continue to reside in a nonresidential unit with the knowledge of the proprietor are covered by lease control unless exempt for other reasons. Whether the landlord in fact understands that individuals live there and permits the occupants to live there is what counts.

Rent Increases Under the Rent Ordinance

Tenants with lease control can just be given lease increases based upon what the law enables. Each year, a landlord can provide tenants a yearly rent increase, which is based on the Bay Area Consumer Price Index (i.e. inflation). Landlords can likewise hand down some costs to tenants immediately (without needing to petition the Rent Board), including 50% of just recently adopted bond steps, increases in PG & E costs (when paid by the landlord), and a portion of the yearly "Rent Board Fee" which funds the Rent Board. In addition, property owners can petition for "capital improvement" lease boosts and "running and maintenance" rent boosts. If occupants believe they have received an unlawful lease boost (now or in the past) you must can be found in to the SFTU drop-in center for suggestions on submitting an Illegal Rent Increase petition at the Rent Board to get your lease overpayments reimbursed and your rent set correctly.

Annual Rent Increases

The annual rent increase (file 571) can be enforced on or after the tenant's "anniversary date." The lease increase can not be given faster than 12 months from the last boost, the "anniversary date." It can be given after, in which case that date becomes the brand-new anniversary date. Annual boosts can be "banked" by the property manager and imposed in later years.

90 Day Notice Required For Rent Increases More Than 10%

State law (California Civil Code Section 827) needs a 90 day written notice for any rent increases which, alone or cumulatively, raise an occupant's rent by more than 10% within a 12 month period. Rent increases for 10% or less need a 1 month notice. This covers both rent controlled and non-rent controlled units.

Capital Improvement Rent Increases

One of the more unjust parts of lease control is the capital enhancement passthrough. Capital enhancements are improvements for the structure, the property owner's financial investment, which occupants mostly spend for through a passthrough. Not just can the landlord get the tenants to pay for increasing the value of his/her financial investment, the landlord can then compose the cost of the improvements off in their taxes. Capital enhancements are things fresh windows, a brand-new roof, painting of the outside of the structure, and other comparable improvements to the residential or commercial property which add significantly to the life or worth of the residential or commercial property instead of routine maintenance. Landlords need to complete the work, petition the Rent Board and win approval of the rent increase before the expense can be passed on. Tenants can contest the boosts at the hearing on particular grounds, like that the work was never ever done, was not essential, or was done to gentrify the building, but it is tough to stop such a passthrough in its totality. However, the renter may receive a hardship exemption.

Once the capital enhancement has been spent for, then the renter's lease goes back to what it was prior to the passthrough (plus any permitted increases in the interim); capital enhancement lease boosts are not part of your "base lease," implying the yearly increase percentage computation does not include the capital enhancement passthrough.

Capital Improvement passthrough rent increases vary based upon the size of the structure:

Tenants in Buildings with 5 or Fewer Units

Tenants in these smaller buildings will need to pay off 100% of the cost of the capital enhancement with rent increases of 5% each year till the entire amount is paid off. For example, if the brand-new roofing system costs $5,000 in a 2 system building, each tenant has to pay $2,500 and will have their lease increased 5% annually up until their share ($ 2,500) has been paid.

Tenants in Buildings with 6 or More Units

Tenants in these larger structures (where most big capital improvements lease boosts happen) have a choice of either spending for half of the capital enhancement (i.e. property manager pays 50%, occupant pays 50%) and then getting annual lease boosts of 10% till the capital improvement is settled or the tenant can select to spend for 100% of the capital improvement and get annual rent boosts of 5% annually, as much as maximum of 15% (or the equivalent of 3 years of lease boosts). The choice in these bigger buildings can be made individually by each occupant and which one is finest will depend on elements such as the expense of the capital improvement, what the occupant's base rent is, and the length of time the occupant intends on living there.

Operating & Maintenance Rent Increases

Operating and upkeep lease increases are for boosts in the landlord's cost of running the residential or commercial property. For the landlord to be able to pass on among these operating and maintenance rent increases, the increased property owner costs need to exceed the annual lease increases. To put it simply, if the property manager's costs increased 2% and the yearly increase that year is 2.2%, then the landlord would not be eligible for this lease boost. In determining whether a landlord can get an operating and upkeep lease increase, the expenditures are aggregated, or looked at in overall. To put it simply, an increase in one area (e.g. taxes) may be balanced out by a decline in another location (e.g. repair work). If when all is calculated the property owner can get the operating and upkeep rent increase, the rent increase is only the amount over the yearly boost. So if the annual boost is 2.2% and the property manager's expenditures increase 3.2%, the property owner could get a 1% operating and upkeep lease boost. The occupant's rent will not increase by more than an additional 7% beyond the annual allowed boost and the increase becomes part of the base lease. The tenant may certify for a challenge exemption.

Effective July 15, 2018, changes to the Rent Ordinance promoted by the Tenants Union limit proprietors from looking for lease increases on existing renters due to boosts in financial obligation service and residential or commercial property tax that have resulted from a change in ownership, and restrict proprietors from looking for rent increases due to increased management expenses unless the costs are affordable and needed.

PG&E Passthroughs

Tenants who do not spend for PG & E can have their lease increased when PG & E costs increase. PG & E passthroughs must be part of the Operating and Maintenance Passthrough process however instead ended up being a different automatic passthrough when lease control was passed in 1979. These, too, are extremely unreasonable as occupants already spend for energy increases as part of the annual rent boost, which is based upon the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Generally, if the property owner is determining the increase based upon the past 2 fiscal year, the property owner must file a petition with the Rent Board before passing on the increase to occupants. If, nevertheless, the proprietor utilizes an earlier "base year" (as most proprietors do), they do not need to submit a petition with the Rent Board however need to submit their estimation worksheet with the Board (and connect a copy to the occupant's rent boost notice). The "base year" for determining the boost is 2002 for any occupancies existing since 12/31/2003 and the year preceding the move-in date for occupancies which started after December 31, 2003. Tenants can file a petition challenging the increase and get a hearing if they disagree with the landlord's computations or demand a challenge exemption.

Hardship Exemption

The Tenant Financial Hardship Application (available from the Rent Board in numerous languages) can be submitted at any time after invoice of the notification of rent increase or the decision from the Rent Board is provided, whichever is earlier, for petitions for capital enhancement passthroughs, general bond passthroughs (efficient 12/6/19), water earnings bond passthroughs, energy passthroughs, and operating and maintenance expenditure boosts. The renter need not pay the approved rent boost while the appeal is being processed and thought about.

Each tenant in the unit who is at least 18 years of ages, except for subtenants, should submit paperwork under penalty of perjury that the approved rent increase will constitute a financial hardship for among the following factors:

1. Tenant is a recipient of means-tested public support. Or

2. (a) Gross home earnings (this would consist of all roommates) is less than 80% of the current Unadjusted Area Median Income as published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the "Metro Fair Market Rent Area" that consists of San Francisco (earnings limitations on the Rent Board kind). And

( b) Rent is greater than 33% of gross home earnings. And

( c) Assets, omitting retirement accounts and non-liquid possessions (such as autos, furniture, and so on), do not surpass possession quantities permitted by the Mayor's Office of Housing when identifying eligibility for listed below market rate home ownership (asset limits on Rent Board kind). Or

3. Exceptional situations exist, such as excessive medical costs.

Rent Board Fee

The Rent Board is moneyed by a yearly cost evaluated on rentals covered by lease control. Landlords can pass on to occupants 50% of the cost. As with the yearly rent increase, the Rent Board Fee (document 573) can be banked. Landlords can deduct the Rent Board charge from security deposit interest or bill renters straight. Tenants can not be evicted for nonpayment of the Rent Board fee.