SFAA and SPOSFI Defeat San Francisco “Ten Day Cure” Prerequisite to “Three Day Notice To Pay Rent or Quit”

In February of 2022, San Francisco passed Ordinance 18-22, which required landlords to first serve a “ten day notice to cure” (before serving the requisite state law eviction notice) to avail themselves of the unlawful detainer statutes in fault-based evictions.

Case law has asserted the primacy of state eviction procedure over local law to the contrary, while local law has been able to infiltrate procedure if it’s merely incidental to timing.

The San Francisco Apartment Association and the Small Property Owners of San Francisco challenged the ten-day ordinance on the basis of state law preemption, and in particular that a landlord cannot be permitted to wait ten days before serving the three day notice to pay rent or quit (rent being the basic bargain of the tenancy – what the tenant exchanges for occupancy). (The petition for writ of mandate can be found here.)

The Real Property Department of the San Francisco Superior Court granted the petition in part. It agreed that the City could not interfere with the state law procedures for recovering rent or possession of a rental unit. As to other bases for eviction, the Court found itself bound by Rental Housing Ass’n of N. Alameda Cty. v. City of Oakland (2009) 171 Cal. App. 4th 741, which upheld (without much analysis) the authority of Oakland to require a seven day cure period before enforcing certain violations. Whether this too is susceptible to challenge will be up to the Court of Appeal.

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Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC attends Barristers Club 35th Annual Judges Reception Honoring Judge Curtis Karnow

Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC attended the Barristers Club 35th Annual Judges Reception. This year, the Club presented its 2019 Tara L. Riedley Barristers Choice Award to Judge Curtis Karnow. Judge Karnow was recently reelected, shortly after receiving the highest rating of the Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee. He is also a co-author of the indispensable “Civil Procedure Before Trial” Rutter Guide.

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Daily Journal Features Zacks, Freedman & Patterson Takings Case

The Daily Journal featured a Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC case – San Francisco SRO Hotel Coalition v. City and County of San Francisco (2018) – making an argument for publication of the Court of Appeal case about the application of an injunction against a change-in-use regulation that appeared likely to effect a taking without just compensation.
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Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC Attends FBANC Celebration of Judge Quidachay

Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC attended the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California celebration of retired Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay, hosted by the Dolan Law Firm.

(Featured: Staff Attorney Olga Grecova, Justin A. Goodman of Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC and Hon. Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay)

Judge Quidachay was one of the founding members of FBANC and the first Filipino-American to be appointed as a judge in Northern California (in 1983).

Also in attendance were the members of FBANC, past and present court staff, friends, family and the landlord and tenant attorneys who have had the great pleasure of arguing before him in Housing Court (some for their entire careers).

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Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC Attends Congressman Jim Costa Fundraiser: “A Conversation about Costa-Hawkins 20 Years Later”

Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC attended a Bay Area reception supporting Jim Costa, U.S. Representative for California’s 16th Congressional District. In 1995, then-California State Senator Costa co-sponsored AB 1164 with then-Assemblyman Phil Hawkins, known as the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Cal. Civ., §§1954.50, et seq.).

(Featured: Justin A. Goodman of Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC (left) and U.S. Representative Jim Costa (right))

Representative Costa, now advancing California’s interests in Washington, gave an insightful presentation on the political climate beginning with the adoption of rent control in the early 1980s leading up to the passing of Costa-Hawkins. He also discussed AB 1506, the recent legislative effort to repeal Costa-Hawkins, and political strategies on fighting repeal efforts at the ballot.

The event was sponsored by the Berkeley Property Owners Association and the East Bay Rental Housing Association.

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