New SFAA Lease Available
The San Francisco Apartment Association is proud to announce the release of its new rental agreement. This new lease takes into account all of the most recent changes made to landlord-tenant law, both at the voting booth and by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. It will also be the first lease available from SFAA online, which should help owners get leases faster and easier than in the past. A lot of time and hard work from SFAA staff and legal counsel has gone into the creation of this lease and SFAA will host a wine and cheese reception to celebrate its release. Further information about the reception and the new lease is available on SFAA’s website, www.sfaa.org.

Demolition Ordinance Postponed
Back in March, San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell sponsored a narrowly passed measure mandating that property owners obtain special approval from the Planning Commission before demolishing any residential building in the city. The commission has postponed its decision about whether or not it can enforce this measure until later this month. SFAA Executive Director Janan New says there are numerous potential problems with this legislation, including the possibility for health and safety issues if owners are not allowed to demolish a building in a timely manner. “This is going to threaten the safety of tenants,” she said of the Maxwell measure. No matter how the commission rules, the measure will expire six months after it passed the board, unless that body takes another vote to extend it or make it permanent.

Rent Board Will Not Enforce Mirkarimi Ordinance
The San Francisco Rent Board Commission has decided that a recent addition to the San Francisco Rent Control Ordinance sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi should be litigated rather than enforced in its current form at the Rent Board. Mirkarimi’s legislation attempted to eliminate a property owner’s right to sever parking, storage or common-area access to a tenant. The ordinance states that these housing services, if granted in the original tenancy agreement, cannot be restricted without just cause or a reduction in rent.

“In the landlord and tenant communities, neither side wanted these regulations,” reveals Rent Board Executive Director Delene Wolf. Wolf explains that the Rent Board Commissioners made a concerted effort to create regulations that would fill in the blanks of the ordinance, but that the way the legislation was crafted simply did not mesh with the current just causes for eviction.1-2 For example, owner-occupancy is a just cause, but an owner can’t technically “occupy” a parking space or storage space (an owner who just wants to use these spaces doesn’t count as an “occupant,” as that term is defined in the ordinance). The Rent Board can’t go beyond the scope of its authority to change the ordinance so that owner “use” is a just cause. “Our regulations tried to make sense of it, but the language just doesn’t fit with our just causes. Our board felt like both sides were unhappy and there was no way to really make it work. So, they decided to let the courts decide,” Wolf explains.

The next step would be for a landlord or tenant to sue over the ordinance and take the battle to San Francisco Superior Court. A judge there could decide the validity of that specific case, but until a legal case results in a published decision, there’s nothing the Rent Board can do but wait. In the meantime, owners must use their own discretion in deciding how to interpret the Mirkarimi ordinance, with the possible risk of a lawsuit (and the accompanying legal expenses) if they attempt to remove these services without a just cause.

Water Rates May Rise
San Francisco property owners may see their water and sewage rates jump almost $6 each month, if the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approves a proposed rate hike on May 8. The SFPUC claims that it needs to raise rates (which, for households with average water and wastewater use, will increase by $4.36 by July 1, 2007, and $5.81 after July 1, 2008) in order to pay for seismic improvements and other upgrades to its infrastructure. SFAA opposes this increase and calls on its members to attend the May 8 meeting at San Francisco City Hall and let their voices be heard. The meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. in Room 400.

If you can’t attend the meeting, you can also send written comments on the proposed rate increase to SFPUC Commission Secretary, 1155 Market St., 11th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103. You should write “Re: Rates Proposal” on the envelope, and include your parcel number or SFPUC customer account number on your comments.

Annual Eviction Report
The San Francisco Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board recently released its annual eviction report. Overall, between March 1, 2006, and February 28, 2007, evictions were down almost 10% over the previous year. The Rent Board also noted a 32% decrease in capital improvement evictions, a nearly 20% decrease in removal from housing use evictions and just over a 10% decrease in Ellis Act evictions. Evictions based on the illegal use of a rental unit and unapproved subtenants jumped by 66.7% and 64.3%, respectively. No tenants were evicted for failure to renew an agreement or lead remediation. The single greatest cause for eviction was nuisance, though at 285 (out of a total of 1,476 eviction notices), nuisance evictions were down 16.7% compared to last year.

SFAA Welcomes Maria Shea
SFAA is pleased to announce a new addition to its staff: Administrative Assistant Maria Shea. Shea is a San Francisco native who helped her parents manage their three rental properties before coming on board at SFAA. She says that her on-the-ground training on SFAA’s front lines, as well as her enrollment in CCRM educational classes, have been informative for her, and will help her parents better manage their properties. “I’m learning more and more and now I can help them out,” she explains. Shea is also enjoying giving out information and advice to SFAA members and bonding with her new coworkers. “The people are great, the atmosphere is enthusiastic and I’m learning a lot,” she comments.

Looking for Candidates
The San Francisco Building Inspection Commission is looking for qualified candidates for its four bodies that develop and implement building codes. The four bodies are the Access Appeals Commission (which hears appeals of disabled access enforcement), the Board of Examiners (which determines if new building methods and materials meet San Francisco building codes), the Code Advisory Committee (which oversees changes to building codes, particularly those that may affect construction permits) and the Unreinforced Masonry Appeals Board (which rules on code requirements relating to unreinforced masonry buildings). Many positions on these bodies are currently vacant and could be a good fit for SFAA members.

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter as soon as possible to Ann Aherne, Secretary, Building Inspection Commission, 1660 Mission St., Sixth Floor, San Francisco, California 94103-2414.

NAA Conference in June
The National Apartment Association will hold its annual conference at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, June 26-30, 2007. To register for the conference, go to www.naahq.org.