New Forms for SFAA Members
SFAA is proud to announce the addition of three new forms. The first form addresses San Francisco’s new composting law. It can be used as an addendum for new tenancies or as a 30-Day Change in Terms of Tenancy for existing tenancies. The new law went into effect on October 21, 2009, and SFAA wants you to be prepared. SFAA will incorporate this suggested language into its revised lease, available January 2010.
The second form is a residency verification form. You can use this form to verify the information on a prospective tenant’s application. You can do this by faxing or mailing it to prospective tenants’ previous landlords after filling out the appropriate information. Don’t forget to have your prospective tenant sign the form. Please note that this form is not a replacement for an application to rent; it is an optional form to use with the application to rent.
The final form can be used annually to inform your tenant of their security deposit interest accrued and the deduction or payment of the San Francisco Rent Board fee. The form gives you the option to either request your tenant pay the Rent Board fee directly to you, or to deduct it from their interest accrued.
If you have paid for online access to SFAA forms already, these forms are already available to you. Otherwise they are available by email, pick-up or mail to all members for free. Please contact SFAA staff at 415-255-2288 if you are interested in obtaining these new forms.
One Paw in the Door…
Last month, the Animal Control and Welfare Commission met and discussed a policy designed to increase the number of rental housing providers who will accept pets in their tenants’ rental units. This agenda item stems from the commission’s commitment to ensure that no potentially adoptable animal is euthanized in city shelters. Last year, 87% of San Francisco’s sheltered animals found a home—one of the highest adoption rates in the nation. But commission members feel that apartment owners’ resistance to allowing pets is stopping that number from going even higher.
There has been some discussion among commissioners about making the acceptance of pets in rental housing mandatory. SFAA is opposed to a mandatory pet policy and sent Government Affairs Director Lisa Fricke to the meeting to make sure landlords’ voices were heard. Fricke reports that she and several SFAA board members let the committee know that incentives, rather than mandates, would be a more effective way to get more pets into apartment buildings. SFAA has offered to work with the commission to come up with some other options that would help the commission meet its goals without putting onerous mandates on property owners.
The commission will continue the debate at its next meeting on Thursday, November 12, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 408 in City Hall. SFAA encourages all members to attend and speak at this and future meetings.
A Seismic Shift
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to expedite the retrofit permit process and waive thousands of dollars in fees for owners of soft-story buildings was endorsed recently by the San Francisco Planning Commission. Newsom’s office also announced that the mayor had directed the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection to craft legislation requiring mandatory earthquake-safety upgrades to soft-story buildings and that a task force would be convened to make recommendations about how to design and implement a mandatory program.
Soft-story structures are buildings with stores, restaurants or parking on the first floor. This setup makes them prone to major earthquake damage. The total cost to stabilize 2,800 of the city’s most dangerous buildings is estimated at approximately $260 million; but about $1.5 billion in damage could be prevented, according to a city-funded study. Building owners might expect to pay $9,000 to $28,000 per unit for the upgrades.
This was the mayor’s second attempt in the last year to encourage property owners to voluntarily retrofit vulnerable buildings. A Board of Supervisors committee tabled the first proposed ordinance, saying that only a small number of property owners would retrofit without further incentives.
Under the newest proposal, owners who voluntarily retrofit would be exempt for 15 years from any mandatory laws passed in the future and would be exempt from planning and building fees that could go as high as $6,500. The proposed legislation would cover more than 110,000 buildings. The recently introduced program needs the approval of the Board of Supervisors to move forward.
Financial Help for Green Upgrades
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a “green loan” program to help property owners pay for green upgrades of their buildings. Supervisor Eric Mar, working in collaboration with the mayor’s office, introduced the legislation to create the program.
The low-interest financing for projects like window replacements, efficient lighting installation, solar installations and rainwater capture will be attached to the property and paid back through a special line item on the property tax bill over approximately 20 years. The loan will stay with the property and will transfer to the new owners after a sale. Property owners not participating in the program will not be impacted, nor will the city’s operating budget.
Trophy Awards November 19
The Trophy Awards will honor the best of San Francisco’s rental housing community on November 19, 2009, at The Palace Hotel.
SFAA members had the opportunity to nominate their favorite firms, employees and properties for any of the following Trophy Award categories: Independent Owner, Property Management Firm, General Manager, Resident Manager, Green Building, Assistant Manager, Residential Amenities, Leasing Consultant, Repositioned Property, Administrative Professional, New Development, Maintenance Manager, Industry Partner and Maintenance Technician. The winners will be announced during an elegant dinner in the hotel’s famous garden atrium.
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the event are still available. For more information about the 2009 Trophy Awards, contact Vanessa Khaleel at 415-255-2288 x16 or vanessa@sfaa.org.
Court Fees Rise While Services Shrink
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently allowed all courts in the State of California to increase their filing fees by at least $5 per paper to help offset the budget shortage. Evictions are affected as follows: the $215 unlawful detainer filing fee is now $220; the $15 writ of possession filing fee is now $25; and the $200 first paper filing fee for tenants is now $205.
While fees are going up, the same budget crunch is causing all superior courts in the state to close on the third Wednesday of every month. Not only will no business be conducted on these days, but law offices are also required to treat the day of closure as a holiday, so owners will be unable to count that day toward the end of an eviction, which will automatically delay evictions by at least one day.
House Passes Multifamily Lending Act
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the FHA Multifamily Loan Limit Adjustment Act, which is designed to make FHA loans more accessible to borrowers in urban multifamily housing projects. The act was introduced by six representatives from urban districts, including two California representatives: Republican Gary Miller, who represents Anaheim, and Democrat Brad Sherman, who represents the San Fernando Valley. The act increases the maximum mortgage amount limitations under the FHA mortgage-insurance programs by 50% for rental housing projects containing four or more units in extremely high-cost areas like the Bay Area. The bill then moved on to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.