Among 25 bills signed today, one drew my attention: extending time to respond to eviction notices and to unlawful detainer summons (AB 2343). Far from being as drastic as the Proposition 10 going to the ballots this November, the AB 2343 bill signed today give some new food for thought (or some pain in the neck, depending on […]
On June 20, 2018, California Supreme Court denied review of Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute v. City & County of San Francisco (2018) 22 Cal.App.5th 77, thus affirming its holding, striking a 10-year ban on alterations of non-conforming units following the Ellis Act evictions. The decision was reached on the preemption argument of the Ellis […]
In July of last year, TIC co-owners of a multi-unit building in San Francisco sued against the ordinance provisions requiring a lifetime lease to be offered to those tenants who reside in the units subjected to a condominium conversion. Case 3:17-cv-03638, Pakdel et al v. City and County of San Francisco (2017 WL 6403074), filed before the Northern District of […]
I must start with repeating an old joke. As a train arrived to the station, a passenger asked a conductor: "will this train take me to the Main Street?" "No," replied the conductor, "of course not, we don't even have the tracks laid in that direction." Another eager passenger standing behind the first one then […]
Today the court of appeals reversed in full its 2016 judgment, which up until today was holding the "educators" ordinance on hold. There is a hope that the certiorari review will follow, but, as of now, the ugly and self-contradicting piece is coming back on the books. And I mean it literally as well, I'll have to […]
I could write my own introduction to this new edition, but I like this one instead: "Having taken more than ordinary Pains in collecting the Materials which compose the following History, we could not be satisfied with our selves, if any Thing were wanting to it, which might render it entirely satisfactory to the Publick: […]
When we talk about a landlord-tenant relationship, we often imply the simplest pairing: that there is a landlord and there is that landlord's tenant, a straightforward exchange of promises and obligations going both ways (that those promises and obligations can go a wrong way or even entirely sideways is covered elsewhere in this blog). But […]
Lawyers are so generally expected to be masters at bending laws, there are folklore quotes about it in pretty much every language. In Russian, the saying goes as "The Law is like an axle--it goes where you turn it." In other words, fatta la legge trovato l'inganno. But the newly enacted Rent Ordinance in the City of […]
On July 18, 2017, the new proposed regulations for the owner- and relative-move-in evictions passed in their final version, and yesterday the mayor has signed it into law. This legislation will significantly change the already heavily burdensome restrictions under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, S.F. Admin. Code, Section 37.9(a)(8). It will become effective on January 1. Let us peek into what the […]
In April an appellate decision came down in Hayes v. Kardosh, containing a detailed discussion about the extent of Rule 12.20 limitations in changing the terms of a tenancy, explaining its meaning within the San Francisco Rent Ordinance and particularly applying it to the Rules 6.15 regarding prohibition on subletting. It is too bad the decision is not […]