How does san francisco rent control work

The following is a basic summary and does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. If you have specific questions about your situation, please contact a SF Rent Board Counselor or visit www.

Most units are covered under the eviction protections of the San Francisco Rent Ordinance Almost all residential units in San Francisco are covered by the eviction protections of the SF Rent Ordinance. Exceptions to eviction protections Some rents are regulated by a different government agency like Below Market Rate housing units.

Rights and requirements from eviction protections See the Forms Center to assert any of these rights. For tenants Tenants may be eligible to receive Relocation Payments for no-fault evictions. For landlords Landlords must file a copy of the eviction notice with the Rent Board within ten days of notifying the tenant. Definition of rent stabilization Rent stabilization refers to the part of the SF Rent Ordinance that limits the amount and frequency of rent increases.

Exceptions to rent stabilization protections The most common reason a residential unit is not covered is that it was newly constructed and has a certificate of occupancy that was first issued after June 13, Rights and requirements from rent stabilization protections See the Forms Center to assert any of these rights.

Disclaimer The following is a basic summary and does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. But opponents of rent control argue that state-enforced rent tapping leads landlords to skimp on maintenance in an effort to make up what they lose in rent or as a passive-aggressive attempt to get renters to move out. Rent control, as UC Berkeley economist and real estate consultant Kenneth Rosen argues, has led to a shortage of housing supply and a rash of vacancies.

And researchers at Stanford University concluded that after a change in the law—which expanded SF rent control to include small multi-unit apartments with four or fewer units, built before —the city saw a 15 percent reduction in for-rent housing.

Landlords instead cashed out their rent-controlled units or, in an arguably more insidious move, demolished those buildings and started over with new construction. Am I part of the problem? But rent control has also allowed me, by luck of the draw, to stay in a city packed with people— younger people—making more than double what I earn annually.

Which is fine. I chose the ego-swelling high of a byline over job security and early retirement, and I stand by that decision. And to live in a city geared toward the gay community, however dwindling that population may be in , still has benefits in terms of safety and relationship possibilities.

Rent control keeps me here and allows me to live alone, teetering on the razor-thin line between blissful solitude and perilous isolation—just how I like it. Rent control is any policy that limits the amount of rent that can be charged for an apartment, how much the rent can be increased per year, or both. Various rent control laws are in place in a handful of cities in the US, as well as the entire states of California and Oregon.

The ordinance is enforced by the San Francisco Rent Board. The rent board also offers protections for renters from landlord negligence and eviction.

Single family homes and commercial units are not covered by rent control. In , the increase was 1. Landlords cannot increase the rent except by petition proving increased operating expenses due to a new roommate or new baby arriving. Many economists have criticized these regulations because they predict that, in a competitive market, rent controls will restrict the supply of housing. They argue that capping prices will reduce the number of landlords willing to lease units.

However, advocates of rent control argue that such protections are necessary to stop low- and moderate-income households from being priced out of rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. A recent paper from economists Rebecca Diamond, Tim McQuade, and Franklin Qian adds key evidence regarding the costs and benefits of rent control to this debate. They investigated the effects of a s-era expansion of rent control in San Francisco. Their results indicate that rent control did help older, more established tenants, especially those from minority backgrounds, stay in their apartments for longer periods.

However, it may have had the opposite effect for younger tenants who had more recently moved in. Furthermore, over time the authors found that rent control reduced the overall amount of rental housing and may have accelerated gentrification.