Surreal Estate – Page 4 – Costa-Hawkins.com

October 21, 2015April 30, 2017

San Francisco Legislative Update (2015): The Jane Kim Amendment i.e., “Eviction Protections 2.0”

This September, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed Ordinance 171-15. Also known as the “Jane Kim Amendment” or “Eviction Protections 2.0”, the new legislation proposed by Supervisor Kim amends the San Francisco Rent Ordinance in an effort to heighten protections for tenants against evictions.

Among other mechanisms, the revised Rent Ordinance language now requires breaches of lease covenants to be “substantial” and for the commission of nuisance behavior to be “severe, continuing or recurring in nature” for an eviction notice to be viable. (It is yet to be seen whether these subjective terms actually change existing standards.) It significantly erodes the ability of landlords to enforce provisions governing occupancy limits and prior approval for subletting, and it imposes new “prerequisites” for serving eviction notices for such breaches. It also requires a landlord to “plead and prove” a proper “dominant motive” for terminating a tenancy.

As for non-fault evictions and voluntary terminations of tenancies, the Rent Ordinance now requires notices containing the existing rental rate to be filed with the Rent Board, and it imposes “vacancy control” at that rate for five years following termination of the tenancy.

Ordinance 171-15 was returned unsigned by the Mayor on October 9, 2015 and will be effective November 8, 2015.

You can find the legislative language of Ordinance 171-15 here, and a draft of the proposed Rent Board amendments to their Rules and Regulations to implement Ordinance 171-15 here.

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015

SF Business Times on Peskin-Christensen Race and Supply of Rent-Controlled Housing in the City

The San Francisco Business Times reports on the bid of former Supervisor Aaron Peskin in his bid for the District 3 seat, currently held by Mayor Lee appointee Julie Christensen. Among other issues he has discussed during his campaign, he would like to expand rent control to apartments built after 1979 – the effective date of the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. These units, as “new construction”, are exempted from rent control.

This kind of change would require an amendment, at the state level, to The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which currently grandfathers the exemption from rent control of units that were decontrolled when Costa-Hawkins was enacted. Peskin notes that San Francisco cannot do this alone, but says that he would “like to at least start that conversation”.

October 7, 2015October 31, 2015

San Francisco Landlords Prevail in Challenge to Enhanced Relocation Payments in Ellis Act Evictions – Coyne, et al. v. CCSF

San Francisco landlords prevailed in their lawsuit against San Francisco’s recent Ordinance 68-15, an amendment to the Rent Ordinance that significantly increased the amount of relocation assistance payments owed to tenants displaced by Ellis Act evictions.

Ordinance 68-15, “Campos II”, was a “sequel” to last year’s Ordinance 54-14 (“Campos I”) – an amendment that also increased relocation assistance payments and which was overturned at the state level in the decision Jacoby v. CCSF. In determining that the Campos II relocation payments were “unreasonable”, Housing Court Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay interpreted a case 2006 appellate decision, Pieri v. CCSF, which first determined that a requirement that landlords pay “reasonable” relocation assistance to displaced tenants (regardless of the tenants’ income level) was not preempted by the Ellis Act. The City is expected to appeal the decision.

Read more about Judge Quidachay’s ruling at The Chronicle and The Examiner

September 23, 2015

Zumper Attributes a Third of San Francisco’s High Rents to VC Funding

The San Francisco Business Times reports on a recent Zumper analysis that attributes a third of San Francisco’s legendary rental rates to the spending of venture capital on firms in the Bay Area. As the Business Times notes, when firms get funded, they hire. At the same time, this increase in cost of living makes it more difficult to hire, so maybe there are actually limits to San Francisco’s soaring rental rates.

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015

San Francisco Adds Additional Funds to Ellis Act Legal Defense

BeyondChron reports on the City’s increased funding of Ellis Act eviction defense. While the overall theme of the article is that Ellis Act evictions are on the decline, any recent downward trend is more likely attributable to the passing of an enhanced relocation payment regime earlier this year. This may be keeping new Ellis efforts at bay until hearing on the validity of the new ordinance on September 24th.

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015

City Economist Chimes in on Effect of “Mission Moratorium”

The San Francisco Business Times reports that City Economist Ted Egan has concluded that the “Mission Moratorium” will cause a slight increase in housing costs across the City, with only a limited impact on the City’s ability to produce affordable housing. The Business Times notes that the moratorium nonetheless has the support of a majority of voters as the November ballot approaches.

September 1, 2015

The Economist Engages the Question: “Do Rent Controls Work?”

The Economist explores the structure of rent controls generally, their increase in relevance in light of a growing trend toward a population of renters, their noble purposes and some of their unintended consequences.

August 31, 2015

Role Reversal for Ellis Act Eviction

The SF Examiner reports on the unusual story of an elderly couple facing difficulty in evicting white-collar, millennial tenants.

August 29, 2015November 1, 2015

Proposed Law To Affect SF Affordable Housing Priority

SocketSite reports on a proposed law that would alter the current priority in new affordable housing developments in the City. Currently, affordable housing preference operates on a lottery, which gives preference to, e.g., tenants who were recently evicted pursuant to the Ellis Act.

The new law would expand priority to tenants displaced by other non-fault evictions (as opposed to singling out the Ellis Act), and it would give priority in the neighborhoods from which the tenant was displaced.

August 21, 2015

Trulia Maps Where To Find Rent Control in San Francisco

Trulia compares rent control in New York and San Francisco, evaluating the differences in rent control/stabilization laws and tracking the neighborhoods where you’re most likely to find rent-controlled units. (No surprise: low percentages in SOMA and The Mission.)