Just cause eviction update status report

 On Tuesday January 12th at the regularly scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting, the long debated expansion of eviction controls to post 1979 buildings legislation passed, once again by a 6-3 vote.  It will now move forward, ultimately landing on the desk of the Mayor to sign or veto.  It is likely the legislation will be vetoed, and with the current 6-3 vote there is little likelihood that the veto is at risk to be overturned.  The Avalos version of legislation can be found here.  [http://www.sfbos.org/ftp/uploadedfiles/bdsupvrs/bosagendas/materials/090583.pdf]

During Tuesday’s meeting, Supervisor Avalos bifurcated or split his legislation, setting aside a duplicate version of the proposed rule to be amended to impact only real property that has faced a foreclosure.  This means that rather than having just-cause eviction controls impact all post 1979 housing, these alternative  rules would attach only if a property had been foreclosed upon.  This insurance policy version of the legislation is clearly not what the tenant community had hoped for; but it may be the only version of the legislation that has a reasonable chance of passage and signage.

In addition to the Avalos legislation, the Mayor and Supervisor Dufty together introduced competing legislation (Ordinance 100058) on the 12^th.  Their legislation would also extend the just cause eviction requirements only to instances where a lender had obtained title through foreclosure.  In addition some sort of notice to residents regarding the Just Cause requirements would be placed on foreclosing lenders.  The Mayor’s legislation has been assigned to the Land Use and Economic Development Committee.

As of the writing of this article, further details of these new legislative proposals were not available on the Internet (at least I was unable to locate them).  

It seems highly likely these new versions will be the subject matter of much back room deal making and ultimately some negotiated resolution.  There are numerous questions that these rules raise, the most obvious and significant being for how long would eviction controls attach under the Avalos version?  Permanently?  For the length of the tenancy?  Or for the length of the ownership?   Second, what exceptions, if any, would be carved out?  The Mayor-Dufty legislation brings up the question of how a foreclosing lender would be defined and what exceptions, if any, would be carved out under their version. 

With the introduction of legislation from the Mayor, it seems evident some expanded version of San Francisco’s Just Cause Eviction is going to become law this year.  Exactly what it will look like remains to be seen. 

Article originally published by Merrie Turner Lightner, CFO and Vice President of Lightner Property Group and SF Rental Business Examiner, in the SF Examiner.