San Francisco landlords must now give their tenants a ten-day heads up before serving an eviction notice, as announced by the Mayor’s Office of Housing on August 5th.
The warning expands current required notice from three to ten days and gives tenants time to correct any issues, such as illegal activities, excessive noise, etc. before a landlord starts the eviction process. The new legislation doesn’t apply when the tenant isn’t paying rent. Here’s a link to more details and background.
San Francisco has many eviction controls in place, and this new ordinance further expands on those. Many would-be landlords don’t realize that they must have a “just cause” to evict a tenant. There are 16 just causes for eviction and you can see them all here.
A common scenario I’m seeing in the current real estate market is a seller not getting the price he or she wants, and considering renting the property until the market potentially catches up to the desired price range. The twist here is that you can’t legally ask a tenant to vacate because you’re suddenly ready to sell your property, even if the lease is up.
I highly recommend consulting with a real estate attorney who is knowledgeable about San Francisco tenant law before you decide to rent out your property.