Apartment Management Magazine A NEW REGULATORY REGIME FOR SAN FRANCISCO RENTAL PROPERTY OWNERS BEGINNING JULY 1, 2022

As part of San Francisco’s data mining campaign, landlords will be required to share tons of information about their residential properties with the Rent Commission. Only owners of buildings with 10 or more residential units must report information at this stage.

Time flies by. Although it seems like an eternity, San Francisco lawmakers passed Order No. 265, which went into effect January 18, 2021, and requires landlords to report certain information about their homes to the Commission. rents. Only now do we have to deal with it.

The stated goal was to create and maintain a “housing inventory” of units in the city that are subject to San Francisco’s rent ordinance. It is not a “Rental Registry” as defined in California Civil Code Sections 1947.7 through 1947.8, but rather a “Rental Board Housing Inventory”.

The information provided is not independently verified by the Rent Commission and although the data is public records, the mailing address used by the landlord for tax purposes is kept private and no tenant names are collected.

The reporting requirements apply to all residential units in San Francisco, including single family homes and owner-occupied units, not just renter-occupied units.

Landlords who rent to tenants receiving housing assistance through a government agency (HOPWA or Section 8, for example) should be aware that participation is required even if such units are not fully subject to the limits of rent increase of the Ordinance on rents.

You may be wondering why this is important. More than just a useful tool for the Rent Commission to gather information, a landlord who does not participate in the Rent Commission’s housing inventory will not receive a rent increase license and will be deemed ineligible to tax. annual rent increases authorized and/or banked to a tenant. .

Is the property rented or not? If yes, how many units? This will dictate the reporting requirements.

All owners of residential dwellings, regardless of the number of dwellings

At a minimum, landlords must share with the Rental Commission the mailing address of the unit and whether the unit is vacant or occupied by a non-landlord.

If the rental board is told that the accommodation is owner occupied only and is not at any time rented, the matter is resolved – no further information will be required.

If, however, the Rental Commission is notified that the unit is unoccupied (because it is vacant, occupied by a tenant or used for other purposes), additional information is required.

Owners of 10 or more rental units

Landlords must submit information about their properties to the Rent Commission’s Housing Inventory by July 1, 2022 or risk having their new “permit” to raise rent revoked.

It’s true – if the landlord is not in good grace with the Rent Board, rents cannot be increased. An update is to be made to the Rent Board each March thereafter.

Owners of condominiums or buildings with less than 10 units have more leeway

If you fall into this category, reporting is due no later than March 1, 2023, and then every March thereafter.

The undercurrent is a distrust of larger, more sophisticated landlords, while family landlords have more time to comply with a complicated regulatory regime.

If a unit is not owner-occupied for any reason, the landlord must disclose certain information to the Rent Commission.

a. The name and business contact details (address, telephone number, email address) of the landlord(s), or property manager, if any, appointed by the landlord(s) to resolve habitability issues;

b. The business registration number of the unit, if applicable;

vs. The approximate square footage and number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the unit (to the best of the owner’s or manager’s knowledge);

D. Whether the unit is vacant or occupied, and the date the vacancy or occupancy began;

e. The start and end dates of any other vacancy or occupation that has occurred in the last 12 months;

F. For tenant-occupied units, base rent reported in $250 increments and if base rent includes landlord payment for utilities (e.g. water/sewer, garbage/recycling, natural gas , electricity, etc.); and;

g. Any other information that the Rent Board deems appropriate following a notified public meeting in order to carry out the purposes of the Rent Ordinance.

Landlords are also required to notify the Rental Board within 30 days of any change in the name or business contact information of the landlord or designated property manager.

Keep in mind:

Square footage is requested in 250 square foot increments and owners are asked to estimate square footage to the best of their ability. The San Francisco Property Information Map may be helpful.

The landlord must report the tenant’s current monthly “base rent” in $250 increments.

Base rent is the monthly rent paid by the tenant for all accommodations and services provided by the landlord, but does not include temporary or fluctuating charges or transfers permitted by the San Francisco Rent Ordinance.

Reports must be made through the Rent Board portal, which can also be used to pay the annual Rent Board fee during the fee cycle.

Landlords must have received a Housing Inventory Notice from the Rent Commission by post, along with a PIN

A PIN is associated with the package number of each evaluator (block/lot). This PIN is required to submit information into the inventory of the Rent Board Portal.

If the owner owns multiple properties, there will be separate notices and PINs for each assessor’s parcel number.

Have you lost or never received the Housing Inventory Notice from the Rent Commission?

There is an advice line available by calling 415-252-4600 ext. 5. You can request a new PIN code.

You have a synergy. Contact the law firm built for landlords and the property management company that optimizes real estate investments while taking care of tenants. One plus one is not two. It’s five.

from the office of daniel bornstein

There are already a myriad of rules around rent increases and now San Francisco landlords and property managers are faced with another. Failure to comply with the city’s rent commission’s housing inventory program means you lose your ability to enforce annually authorized and/or banked rent increases.

At this particular point, only owners of ten or more units need to be galvanized into action.

He’s been relatively quiet on the legislative front, and that’s fine – we like a state of boredom. About halfway through 2022, there were a slew of outlandish measures proposed in the state house that were voted down.

Yet we have repeatedly said that unless landlord rights are taken away by sweeping legislation, tenant advocates will take the fight to local governments to see these rights slowly melt away like a candle.

That’s what we’re seeing in Oakland with its capping of rent increases and preparations for a rent registry. That’s now evident in Berkeley, where lawmakers have jumped on the bandwagon by considering a vacancy tax. We hope our industry partners will provide a compelling counter-narrative.

Please enjoy your summer, please stay safe, and please reach out to our offices if you experience any friction in your rental relationships or encounter other challenges that impede your real estate success.