Common problem, common solution. The San Francisco Rent Ordinance authorizes an owner to move into a tenant-occupied rental unit and terminate the tenancy of all occupants in possession, however the San Francisco Rent Ordinance restricts the right of an owner to do so in a number of material ways.
First, an Owner Move-In eviction (“OMI”) requires that an owner intend to occupy the unit as his or her principal place of residence for at least 36 continuous months. Second, the San Francisco Rent Ordinance generally allows only one OMI for the entire property if it is a multi-unit property, and if there was an OMI in the past, that previous OMI unit must be the OMI unit for any subsequent OMI. Likewise, if a buyer is considering purchasing a multi-unit property with the intent of performing an OMI, it would be advisable to investigate if any OMI had occurred at the property before, and if so, that the OMI unit is one the buyer is wiling to occupy. Third, the San Francisco Rent Ordinance generally prevents an owner from preforming an OMI if any tenant in the in the unit is “protected”. A protected tenant for purposes of an OMI means either: (1) the tenant is 60 years of age or older and has lived in the unit for at least 10 years; (2) the tenant is disabled and has lived in the unit for at least 10 years; or (3) the tenant is catastrophically ill and his lived in the unit for at least 5 years.
Continue reading “There’s A Tenant In My Apartment: Owner Move-In”