On March 13, 2020, San Francisco Mayor enacted a moratorium on evictions of tenants who are unable to pay rent due to impacts from the COVID-19 health crisis. This moratorium will last 30 days, and it could be extended further if the need is there. Also, this moratorium is not just for residential tenants, but also includes commercial tenants with a license to operate in San Francisco that have less than $25 million in annual gross receipts.

Given the current health climate and the shelter-in-place orders in all the Bay Area counties, many people are out of a job or have their hours drastically reduced, due to the drastically reduced demand on certain non-essential businesses. If you are a residential or commercial landlord or tenant, and you need legal advice during these unprecedented times, feel free to reach Attorney Sam Wu at his office number 415-886-1703 or by email at swu@swulaw.com.

​During this crisis, the Law Office of Sam Wu will remain close in an effort to flatten the curve to give our health care workers a fighting chance. I hope you will do the same to support our health care workers by staying home whenever possible as to not put any further unnecessary stress on the system.

Thanks and please stay safe and healthy.

Effective Jan. 1, 2020, California's new statewide rent control (Civil Code 1947.12) and eviction protections (Civil Code 1946.2) will take effect. These two new schemes will only apply to cities without more restrictive rent control and eviction protections already in place.

For the new rent control scheme, landlords will be prohibited from raising the rent on tenants of more than 5 percent plus the change in the cost of living or 10 percent, whichever is lower. 

For the new eviction protection scheme, if the tenant has been residing at the leased residential unit for more than 12 months, landlord must have "just cause" for evictions.

"Just cause" includes:

• "At-fault" just causes:
  • Non-payment of rent;
  • Breach of material term of the lease;
  • Committing a nuisance;
  • Committing waste;
  • Failure of tenant to execute an extension/renewal of the lease based on similar terms;
  • Criminal/illegal activities committing by the tenant;
  • Assigning/subletting in violation of the lease;
  • Tenant's refusal to permit landlord's lawful entry request;
  • Failure to vacate by the employee/agent/licensee after their employment termination; 
  • Tenant's failure to vacate after tenant's own Civil Code 1946 notice to terminate tenancy;
• "No-fault" just cases:
  • Owner-move-in by the landlord;
  • Landlord's withdrawal of the leased property from the rental market (Ellis Act);
  • Landlord's need to comply with lawful order regarding the leased premises; and
  • Demolition or substantial rehabilitation of the leased premises.

For "no-fault" evictions, landlords must provide the tenant with relocation assistance equal to one month's rent or a written waiver of the final month of the tenancy.

For existing tenancies and new tenancies, the landlord needs to give written notice to the (existing or potential) tenant of these two new laws. (Civil Code 1946.2(F)).

There are certain exclusions and exemptions under these two new schemes. So, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 415-886-7103 or by email at swu@swulaw.com. 

San Francisco recently amended their laws on Owner/Relative Move-In (OMI/RMI) Evictions to add more protections to displaced tenants and more procedures for landlords to follow.

Now, Landlords are required to include/do the following on top of the OMI 60-Day Notice:

1. Blank Change of Address Form (for tenants to advise the Rent Board of their change in address);
2. Declaration by Landlord that the OMI was done in good faith and for their principal place of residence for at least 36 continuous months;
3. Landlord must file a Statement of Occupancy within 90 days of the OMI Notice and update that form every 90 days after that until Landlord recovers possession. Further, Landlord must update this form every year for five years. Landlord must include supporting documents. The Statements will be sent to the displaced tenant(s). There are fines for non-compliance.
4. Rent Board will send a notice within 30 days of the eviction date and once a year every 5 years that states the max rent for the affected unit.
5. There is now a 5-year period (instead of 3-years) for which the Landlord must offer to unit back to the displaced tenant if the landlord decides to re-rent the unit. Landlord must file a copy of this offer within 15-days, and Tenant has 30 days to accept or reject the offer.

If you want to initiate an Owner or Relative Move-In Eviction, contact us at 415-886-7103.

Starting last Friday, July 1, 2016, San Francisco's minimum wage increased from $12.25 an hour to $13.00 an hour. This increase is part of the City's plan to raise the minimum wage to an eventual $15.00 an hour by 2018. The next increase is set for July 1, 2017 at $14.00 an hour.

More information is available here. If you believe you are being taken advantage of by your employer, have questions about minimum wage, or other labor related questions, please contact the Law Office of Sam Wu at 415-886-7103.

This office has seen many instances in which master-tenants in San Francisco are trying to lessen their burden on rent by subleasing to other people. However, these master-tenants are not doing enough to protect themselves. Many master-tenants do not know that they can evict their subtenants without just cause, even if their unit is under rent/eviction control.

How? Section 6.15C of the San Francisco Rent Board Rules and Regulations, which, in relevant part, states:
For any tenancy commencing on or after May 25, 1998, a landlord who is not an owner of record of the property and who resides in the same rental unit with his or her tenant (a "Master Tenant") may evict said tenant without just cause as required under Section 37.9(a) only if, prior to commencement of the tenancy, the Master Tenant informs the tenant in writing that the tenancy is not subject to the just cause provisions of Section 37.9.  A landlord who is an owner of record of the property and who resides in the same rental unit with his or her tenant is not subject to this additional disclosure requirement.

Thus, the master-tenant only needs to notify the subtenant in writing (signed and acknowledged by the potential subtenant), PRIOR to signing the sublease, that the sub-tenancy is NOT subject to the just cause provisions of the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. With this notice in hand, the master-tenant can terminate a problematic or incompatible subtenant without cause.

If you (or someone you know) have a similar situation or have any other landlord-tenant related questions, you may set up a free consultation with Mr. Wu today at 415-886-7103.

Every new year usually brings about new laws and regulations. Let's explore some of these in Landlord-Tenant land.

• In San Francisco, there are new eviction requirements. Mostly, any notice to terminate sent to the tenant must include a Notice specifically created by the Rent Board under Section 37.9(c), which gives tenants certain information in six different languages. Also, for no-fault evictions, all notices must include what the lawful rent is at the time the notice was issued.
• Also, in San Francisco, it is now more difficult to eviction a tenant for nuisance and having additional occupants. For nuisance, it must now be "severe, continuing or recurring in nature", which raises the bar for the landlord's burden. For additional occupants, even if the lease has hard limits, tenants may attempt to go around those limits under a procedure to request adding in the additional occupants. This procedure requires the landlord to approve or deny the request within a limited number of days. Further, any denial must be reasonable.  However, the law still retains some maximum occupancy limits based on the number of bedrooms, which prevents a situation where 10 people are sharing a small studio. The new law also gives the tenant 10-days to cure any breaches of any anti-assignment or subletting clause in the lease.

Overall, as almost always, these new laws do make evicting tenants more and more difficult, as these laws are designed to provide tenants more protections and rights. As good of an intention as these laws may be, sometimes, a problematic tenant needs to go. If you or someone you know has a problematic tenant, feel free to give this office a call for a free consultation at 415-886-7103. 

Beginning February 1, 2015, San Francisco's new "Air Bnb" law ( San Francisco Ordinance No. 218-14) that permits certain "qualified residents" (landlords or tenants) to rent out their permanent residence on a short-term basis, via websites such as Air BnB. However, there are certain steps and procedures to take before those qualified residents can take advantage of this new law.

Qualified residents need to apply for a Short-Term Residential Rental Number (STRR), through the city's new Registry. Qualified residents can start the application process now. In order to obtain a STRR Number, qualified residents need to meet the following conditions:

• Qualified resident must be the permanent resident of the unit he/she wishes to rent under this new law. "Permanent residence" means that the qualified resident must live in that unit for at least 275 nights in the year (75%), and the qualified resident must have lived in that unit for at least 60 consecutive days before starting the STRR application. This means, for each qualified resident, he/she can only designate ONE unit for STRR treatment. Below Market Rate units are not eligible.
• Qualified resident must have a San Francisco business registration certificate.
• Qualified residence must have liability insurance of at least $500,000 (or proof that the hosting platforms like AirBnB have sufficient coverage).
• The unit to be used for STRR must not have any outstanding building (or other city/state) code violations.
• If the qualified resident is a tenant, he/she must provide a copy of their lease agreement to the SF Planning Department as part of the application process. The SF Planning Department advises qualified residents who are tenants that applying for a STRR Number does not supersede the private lease agreements between the tenant and the landlord. Caveat emptor for qualified residents who are tenants.  Also, the SF Planning Department will notify the owner of the property that a tenant has started the STRR registration process.
• The application must be presented and submitted in person by the qualified resident. An appointment with the SF Planning Department is required.  A link to the application can be found here.
• Qualified resident must pay all applicable fees.

There are some restrictions of the new STRR law. One is that the qualified residents may not rent their unit (in its entirety or a portion of) as a short-term residential rental until they have a STRR Number. The Short-Term rentals cannot be more than 30 consecutive nights. If the qualified resident is not living there during the short-term rental period, there is a cap of 90 nights per year. However, if the qualified resident is only renting out a space/room while he/she is living there, then there is no limit on how many nights the short-term rentals can be. Finally, qualified residents who are tenants cannot charge more to the short-term guests that he/she pays to the landlord as rent. 

Due to the fact that applying for a STRR does not protect qualified residents who are tenants from the wrath of their landlords, those who are tenants should think twice about STRR-ing their unit. The landlords can easily point to a clause in the lease agreement that prohibits subleasing/assignments or that the unit cannot be used for commercial purposes (which an argument can be made that using AirBnB is like a business).  Also, for new tenancies, it is expected that new leases will include a new clause that is directly related to this new ordinance. It can be as simple as, "Tenant may not sub-lease/assign the unit in any short-term rental platforms like AirBnB." 

This new ordinance is designed to keep the City in-line with the existing/up-coming advances in technologies and the social dynamics of its residences. While there is some good to this new ordinance, enforcement to curb abuses will be difficult. I suspect not a lot of people will apply (unless AirBnB forces hosts to have a STRR Number), and if they do, it will mostly be landlords.