Residential Rent and Eviction Control Resources
Robert Gammon proposed an interesting idea for Costa-Hawkins reform in his Op-Ed at the East Bay Express. Arguing that Costa-Hawkins has not had its desired effect in increasing production of new (rent-control exempt) construction, and that new construction in lower income neighborhoods leads to price increases even on the older housing supply, he proposes an amendment where new construction is decontrolled for ten years, before coming under rent control thereafter.
The Bold Italic reports that the Bernal Heights tenant, whose 415% rent increase notice has been doing laps around the internet, has been using her home to host Airbnb guests.
In a series of steps toward legitimizing the practice, Airbnb recently “volunteered” a 25 million dollar tax payment to San Francisco, and the City recently enacted new “hosting platform” legislation, where tenants who comply with its procedures would not be subject to the “just cause for eviction” provisions of the Rent Ordinance for a first violation of the residential unit conversion ordinance.
Sam Levin at the East Bay Express explores the effects on tenants of 901 Jefferson Street in Oakland – a post-Costa-Hawkins “new construction” apartment building – following a volley of market-rate rent increases by its new owner.
The San Francisco Apartment Association filed a lawsuit last Thursday challenging the City’s new buyout legislation. Among other things, that legislation would impose requirements for landlords to provide disclosures to tenants prior to discussing offers to pay tenants to leave their (rent-controlled) tenancies.
The lawsuit alleges violations of free speech, equal protection and privacy rights. It notes that the regulations treat tenants differently than landlords (e.g., providing rights to rescind executed agreements only to the former and imposing penalties only to the latter), and it urges that the regulations inhibit free speech. The Court of Appeal struck down an earlier amendment to the Rent Ordinance, which prevented landlords from discussing efforts to recover possession of a rental unit from a tenant, unless they had a “good faith” intent to evoke a “just cause” for eviction, in Baba v. Board of Supervisors of CCSF.
The City does have an interest in knowing what’s going on with its rental housing supply. Prior to this legislation, the City has had to obtain most of its data on buyout figures from the San Francisco Tenants Union.
It is unknown at this time whether the lawsuit will be successful in knocking out some, or even all, of the provisions of the new legislation. In the meantime, landlords, make sure you comply with all of the current requirements!
You can read the San Francisco Apartment Association’s media release here.
Zumper.com reports that San Francisco continued its nine-month upward trend in rental housing prices as of February 2015, “reaching an all-time high of $3,460 for a 1-bedroom apartment”. MUNI fare holds firm at $2.25 with a transfer.
California State Senator Mark Leno introduced legislation last week to impose a five-year restriction on new owners invoking the Ellis Act to withdraw residential units from the rental market.
Leno’s SB 364 mirrors last year’s SB 1439, which was approved by the Senate last year but fell one vote short in the Assembly Housing Committee.
On February 19th, the San Francisco Superior Court concurred with the recent Federal District Court decision, Levin v. CCSF, in invalidating the Campos Amendment to the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, in the case Jacoby, et al. v. CCSF. The Campos Amendment required additional relocation assistance to residents displaced by Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco.
Check out the SF Examiner to read what Ryan Patterson had to say about proposed temporary zoning controls that would affect the project at 1049 Market Street. (Spoiler alert: they’re “simply irrational”.)
