San Francisco, CA — landlord and rental rules

The Rent Ordinance limits increases for covered units, generally in buildings constructed before 13 June 1979; state law exempts most separately alienable single-family homes and condominiums from the local rent ceiling.

Construction date alone is not a coverage decision. Confirm the unit in the Rent Board portal, including condominium, owner-occupancy, subsidy, and lawful-new-construction status.

Construction

Built before 1980

In effect since 1979-06-13.

The Tenant Protection Act caps annual rent increases at 5% plus CPI, with a hard ceiling of 10%, on housing built more than 15 years ago.

The 15-year window rolls forward, so a building drifts into coverage with age rather than being fixed by its construction date at purchase.

Annual cap

10%

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

In effect since 2020-01-01.

Costa-Hawkins exempts post-1995 construction and single-family homes and condominiums from *local* rent control, and preserves the landlord's right to reset rent to market on vacancy.

It does not help at the affordable end, because affordable stock is old stock: the buildings a small investor can actually buy are usually the ones Costa-Hawkins does not exempt.

Vacancy decontrol

Yes — rent resets on vacancy

Construction

Built after 1995

The Rent Ordinance requires an authorised just cause for most residential evictions, including many single-family homes, condominiums, and post-1979 units that are exempt from local rent ceilings.

Eviction coverage is broader than rent-ceiling coverage and reaches most privately rented dwelling units.

Do not use a rent-ceiling exemption as an eviction exemption. Confirm the cause, notice, filing, relocation, and owner-move-in restrictions with the Rent Board before acting.

Unit counts

1+ units

Civil Code section 1946.2 limits termination of a covered residential tenancy to enumerated at-fault or no-fault causes; SB 567 tightened owner-move-in and substantial-remodel rules and added enforcement remedies from 1 April 2024.

The just-cause duty begins only after every tenant has occupied lawfully for 12 months, or one tenant for 24 months when additional adults joined earlier. Coverage is not decided by dwelling count alone. Owner-occupied duplexes are exempt while the owner remains in one unit; qualifying separately alienable single-family homes and condominiums require non-corporate ownership and the statutory lease notice; housing with a certificate of occupancy in the previous 15 years is exempt.

The protection starts after 12 months of continuous lawful occupancy; when additional adult tenants joined before that point, it starts after all tenants reach 12 months or one reaches 24 months. Buying through a corporation, REIT, or an LLC with a corporate member defeats the separately alienable-home exemption. A missing exemption notice can also leave an otherwise qualifying home covered. SB 567 requires a genuine owner move-in and confines substantial-remodel termination to work that cannot safely be done with the tenant in place and requires the statutory process.

Unit counts

1+ units

Owner-occupied exemption

Yes

In effect since 2020-01-01.

Owners of residential property must report unit information to the Rent Board Housing Inventory annually; reporting covers owner-occupied, vacant, and non-owner-occupied units, including single-family homes and condominiums.

Housing Inventory reporting applies to residential units broadly, not only rent-controlled apartments.

The ordinance calls this a housing inventory rather than a rental registry. Failure to report can suspend the license to impose annual or banked increases on a covered tenancy.

Unit counts

1+ units

In effect since 2022-07-01.

California does not impose a general statewide rental-property registration programme. City and county programmes can still require registration and inspection, and a statewide-only answer must not be read as a clean local search.

The local jurisdiction must be checked separately. The curated municipal layer in this service is explicit and partial; an address outside it inherits state statutes but no claim that its city has no programme.

For a rental apartment building that is not a common-interest development, Health and Safety Code section 17973 requires inspection of qualifying wood-supported exterior elevated elements in buildings containing three or more multifamily dwelling units, first due in 2026 and every six years; retained reports pass to a later buyer. A condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings follows Civil Code section 5551 instead: the association is responsible, the first inspection was due in 2025, and the cycle is nine years.

SB 721 begins at three multifamily dwelling units and only reaches qualifying exterior elevated elements more than six feet above ground that rely substantially on wood or wood-based products for support. Health and Safety Code section 17973(n) excludes common-interest developments.

This six-year owner duty is the rental-apartment path and excludes common-interest developments. A condominium project with three or more attached multifamily dwellings instead follows Civil Code section 5551: the association is responsible, the first inspection was due 1 January 2025, and the cycle is nine years. Those first deadlines do not establish the deadline for newer construction: the statutes instead measure six years from the certificate of occupancy for buildings whose permit applications fall on or after their respective 2019 and 2020 dates. On the SB 721 path, the owner must retain reports for at least two inspection cycles and deliver them to a later buyer. Confirm the property class, qualifying exterior elevated elements, permit and certificate dates, and applicable owner or association report rather than treating an absent document as proof no inspection was required.

Unit counts

3+ units

Sb721 first deadline

2026-01-01

Sb721 cycle years

6

Sb326 first deadline

2025-01-01

Sb326 cycle years

9

In effect since 2019-01-01.

For security collected on or after 1 July 2024, Civil Code section 1950.5 generally caps the deposit at one month's rent. A qualifying small landlord may collect up to two months' rent, except from a service member.

The general ceiling is one month's rent. A landlord who is a natural person or an LLC whose members are all natural persons may instead collect up to two months when they own no more than two residential rental properties containing no more than four offered rental units in total. That exception does not apply to a prospective tenant who is a service member. Confirm the buyer entity, its other holdings, and the tenant's status before choosing either ceiling.

In effect since 2024-07-01.

FAIR Plan policies are up 139% since 2021, habitability claims are now commonly excluded, and earthquake cover is excluded from every standard policy.

Get a bindable quote before removing contingencies. An insurance assumption carried over from another state is the single largest silent error in a California pro forma.

Fair plan increase since2021

139%