September News

Are Landlords Ignoring Building Sales Disclsoure Law?

Supervisors Kill Charter Amendment Reforming Rent Board Commission

Landlords Ignore Building Sales Disclosure Law; Tenants Union Looking At Beefing Up Enforcement Provisions—Help Out By Taking A Quick Survey

In San Francisco's hot real estate market, one of the biggest problems tenants face is that their apartment buildings are often up for sale. This poses many problems: Renters are unsure of what the sale means and if a new landlord can simply kick them out or even if the currnet landlord can evict them to sell the building empty. And landlords can sell buildings for more if they are empty or close to empty so they often tell tenants they will have to move. Sometime the mere act of putting a for sale sign on building will get tenants to move out, unsure of what their future holds.

San Francisco requires landlords who are selling apartment buildings to give tenants a written disclosure notice stating, amongst other things, that tenants can not be evicted becausse the building is being sold, that a new landlord can not raise the rent or change the terms of the tenancy. The buyer is then required to give an additional notice stating the same. Our experience, though, has been that when apartment buildings are being sold, tenants are far more likely to get an eviction notice than the required disclosure notice telling them they can't be evicted because a building is up for sale.

The Tenants Union is looking at beefing up this law to add penalties to landlords who do not give tenants the required disclosure. Help us collect data–if your building has been up for sale or been sold since 2008, take this quick 3 question survey.

Proposed November Charter Measure Changing Rent Board Commission Structure & Giving Tenants More Say is Killed at Board of Supervisors

The San Francisco Rent Board Commission–the body which enforces the rent control law–has long been perceived by tenants to favor landlords over tenants.

Unfortunately, the landlord bias will continue as the Supervisors defeated a measure to reform the Commission. Sponspored by Sup. David Campos, the proposal would have taken the sole appointing power of the Commissioners away from the Mayor and given Supervisors say over who gets appointed. Supervisors caved in to a landlord extortion threat: landlords said they would spend thousands of dollars to defeat revenue measures in November if the Rent Board Reform measure was placed on the ballot.