Nonpayment of Rent: Recommended Procedure
This is what we recommend for rent nonpayments. Updated for SF eviction extension through September 2021, Senate Bill 91, the September 21, 2020 Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development’s “Temporary Moratorium on Residential Evictions” “Rules and Regulations for Tenants and Landlords” (downloads as a pdf), “Protections for Residential Tenants in San Francisco Summary” (downloads as a pdf), and Assembly Bill 832:
- For rent missed before March 1, 2020 or not related to COVID-19 loss of income, you may be able to rely on the federal moratorium on evictions due to nonpayment of rent through March 2021.
- For August 2020 rent due to COVID-19 loss of income, notify your landlord as usual advising them of your inability to pay all or part of your rent due to COVID-19 loss of income, and that you are delaying your August 2020 rent payment as allowed in the Mayor’s July 27, 2020 Executive Order. In addition, San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston’s legislation, may prevent evictions ever for March 16, 2020 through September 2020 rent nonpayment due to COVID-19. Exceptions for subsidized housing.
- If you get a 15 day notice to pay or quit due to COVID-19 loss of income for the period March 2020-September 2021, sign the declaration of COVID-19 related financial distress included with the 15 day notice and return the declaration within 15 business days (exceptions for a “good reason”) to the landlord. If your household income is more than 130% of the median household income in your county (downloads as a pdf) and more than $100,000, your landlord may demand proof of your COVID-19 related hardship be provided to support your declaration such as a tax return, pay stubs, and a statement from your employer, among other things.
- Make a minimum payment by September 30, 2021 of 25% of the rent you owe for each month during the period September 2020-September 2021 to avoid eviction EVER for nonpayment of rent due to COVID-19 during the period September 2020-September 2021. (Follow #1 and #2 to stop the eviction for the March 2020-August 2020 nonpayments.) Or apply for rental assistance.
- Unpaid rent due after September 30, 2021.
- Collection actions for COVID-19 rental debt may not begin before November 1, 2021. The ability for a court to offset in a collection action any amount a landlord was eligible to get from a rental assistance program but for which they failed to apply will be extended to Option C jurisdictions. (This previously only applied in A and B jurisdictions.)
- Rental assistance and other info.
- Check for updates on the San Francisco Tenants Union’s webpage.
