SF Apartment Magazine April 2023

SF APARTMENT magazine

San Francisco Apartment Association Office

265 Ivy Street San Francisco, CA 94102

Tel 415-255-2288 Fax 415-255-1112

Email memberquestions@sfaa.org

Web www.sfaa.org

SFAA Staff

Executive Director Janan New Deputy Director Vanessa Khaleel

Education Specialist Stephanie Alonzo

Government and Community Affairs Charley Goss

Marketing Lara Kisich

Member Services Gershay Castaneda

Member Services Maria Shea

Accountant Crystal Wang

SFAA Officers President J.J. Panzer

Vice President Robert Link

Treasurer Jim Hurley

Secretary Kent Mar

SFAA Directors

Eric Andresen, Honor Bulkley, David Gruber, Neveo Mosser, Chris Bricker, Bert Polacci, James Sangiacomo, Dave Wasserman, Paul Gaetani

VOLUME XXXV, NUMBER 4

APRIL 2023

Published by San Francisco Apartment Association

Publisher Vanessa Khaleel

Editor Pam McElroy

Art Director Jéna Safai

Production Manager Cameron Shaw

Tel 415-255-2288

Web www.sfaa.org

SF Apartment Magazine (ISSN 1539-8161) Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, California and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the SF APARTMENT MAGAZINE, 265 Ivy Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

The SF Apartment Magazine is published monthly for $84 per year by the San Francisco Apartment Association (SFAA), 265 Ivy Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. The SF Apartment Magazine is not responsible for the return or loss of submissions or artwork. The magazine does not consider unsolicited articles. The opinions expressed in any signed article in the SF Apartment Magazine are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If legal service or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. Acceptance of an advertisement by this magazine does not necessarily constitute any endorsement or recommendation by the SFAA, express or implied, of the advertiser or any goods or services offered. Published monthly, the SF Apartment Magazine is distributed to the entire membership of the SFAA. The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced without permission. Publisher disclaims any liability for published articles. Printed by Printing Partners Copyright @2023 by SFAA.

Housing Bills in the Works

AB 1114 —Assemblymember Matt Haney is proposing to eliminate building-permit appeals once a project has been fully approved by the Planning Department. Projects must be at least two-thirds residential to be included in the bill.

“We’re literally the only city in the state that allows anyone to stand up and object and stop a project even after it has received all its approvals. It’s insane,” Haney told the San Francisco Chronicle

SB 4 —With this bill (dubbed “YIGBY” or “Yes in God’s Backyard”), Senator Scott Wiener hopes to fast-track the process for religious institutions and nonprofit colleges to develop affordable housing on their properties.

SB 423 —This bill, also proposed by Senator Wiener, would make 2017’s SB 35 permanent. SB 35 is Senator Wiener’s housing bill that accelerated

the construction of subsidized affordable housing in cities across the state. Currently, SB 35 is scheduled to sunset at the close of 2025.

A study conducted by the California Department of Housing and Community Development says that SB 35 has brought more than 11,000 homes to the state—3,000 of which were created in San Francisco, 80% of them affordable housing. And, according to the San Francisco Planning Department, SB 35 has shortened approval times for affordable housing from as long as three years to just four months.

Family-Sized Housing

Supervisor Myrna Melgar has introduced legislation that aims to incentivize much-needed familysized housing on the west side of the city. While clearly in line with the City’s housing production goals, it includes some requirements that could make it inapplicable to most of the west side properties it aims to cover.

The draft legislation would create the Family Housing Opportunity Special Use District, which shares a boundary with the Well-Resourced Neighborhoods Map included in the draft 2023-2031 Housing Element. The map covers the entire west side of the city, plus the Marina, Cow Hollow, and parts of North Beach. As drafted, the ordinance would expire eight years after it becomes effective.

The proposed ordinance encourages the construction of two-to-fourunit projects that provide at least two 2-bedroom units within the new special use district. Qualifying projects would be exempt from an otherwiserequired conditional use authorization (CU), including CUs that typically apply to the demolition of an existing residential unit. Eligible projects would also be exempt from Section 311 notice and the discretionary review process. Obtaining approval of a CU or having a project sent to the Planning Commission by a neighbor via discretionary review creates uncertainty and can add many months to a project’s approval timeline. Taking both CU requirements and Section 311/discretionary review off the table are meaningful incentives.

The legislation does not automatically exempt these projects from CEQA— but small new construction projects should be eligible for Class 3 (new construction of small structures) categorical exemptions.

Specifically, the new rules would apply to projects that construct twounit buildings (including a two unit

Breaking Ground

Policymakers are working to meet the minimum state housing requirements.

building with a third standalone unit outside the proposed building envelope) and three-unit buildings (including a three unit building with a fourth standalone unit outside the proposed building envelope). At least two of the units in a qualifying project must have at least two bedrooms.

Projects must consist of ground-up new construction, and while they would be exempt from the otherwise-applicable density limit (up to four units per lot and not including any permitted accessory dwelling units), projects would not be exempt from the otherwise-applicable height limit for the property in question.

As drafted, the legislation includes several other restrictions that will limit its potential impact:

Qualifying projects cannot demolish a historic resource and must comply with the Residential Design Guidelines and the Planning Code, except for lot-based dwelling unit density limits. While requiring Code compliance in exchange for bypassing Planning Commission review is reasonable, the Residential Design Guidelines are not entirely objective, which will make it difficult for sponsors to assess whether Planning staff will deem a particular project in compliance with the guidelines. It’s also difficult to imagine how a third or fourth unit constructed outside the main building envelope could comply with the Planning Code’s rear yard and obstruction controls.

Additionally, projects cannot propose the demolition of any of the following:

• Units that are or were subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of lower or very low income within the past five years;

• Units that are or were subject to the Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Ordinance (Chapter 37 of the Administrative Code) within the past five years;

• Units that are or were occupied by lower or very low income households within the past five years; or

• Units that were withdrawn from the rental market pursuant to the Ellis Act within the past ten years.

The requirement related to the Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Ordinance (i.e., the “Rent Ordinance”) is very limiting as drafted. Most residential units in San Francisco are subject to the Rent Ordinance, which has a rent control component and an eviction protection component.

Units built after June 13, 1979, most single-family homes and condos, and units that have undergone substantial rehabilitation are subject to the Rent Ordinance, but only to the eviction controls (not the rent increase limitations that apply to other units). If the legislation intends to exclude these units and older units subject to rent control limits, there will be nothing left for redevelopment pursuant to the proposed Family Housing Opportunity Special Use District. Protecting affordable units from demolition is a logical policy choice, but hopefully the legislation will be amended to limit this restriction only to units subject to the Rent Ordinance’s rent control protections.

Supervisor Melgar’s proposal has the potential to be an impactful piece of legislation to spur development on the west side of the city, and we’ll be keeping an eye on its progress through the legislative process.

This news item was authored by Reuben, Junius & Rose Attorney Chloe Angelis. She can be reached at 415-567-9000.

Storm-Related Anti-Price Gouging

The growing list of counties in the current storm-related state of emergency include Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Bernadino, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,

Santa Cruz, Sierra, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba.

During the state of emergency, it is illegal to increase the price of goods and services by more than 10% above pre-emergency levels. This applies to rental housing for existing tenants, as well as rent increases during unit turnovers. Violators can face a year in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, as well as civil penalties.

Fire Alarm Upgrade Deadline

July 2023

By now, you’ve probably heard about the San Francisco fire alarm code section 1103.7.6.1, which was adopted in 2016. The entire process can take anywhere from two to four months, so if you haven’t started the process yet, don’t wait any longer.

Building owners of (R-2) residential buildings with three or more units with an existing building fire alarm system need to comply with sound level requirements for sleeping areas by July 2023. Alarm systems have to pass the “pillow test,” meaning the central fire alarm system must be loud enough for all residents to hear it from their bedroom (meeting a sound level of at least 75 dBA).

If this applies to you and you haven’t upgraded your fire alarm system, contact your existing fire alarm provider and see what they can do for you. They may already know what needs to be done and can help with your unique building. The alarm system professional you work with should consider whether or not you have electronic floor plans available, if there’s an elevator or sprinkler system in your building, or if you have construction or remodeling work planned.

For a list of SFAA-affiliated alarm system professionals, turn to page 46 of the member directory. For more information on the legislation and FAQs, visit sf-fire. org/308-sleeping-area-fire-alarm-requirements

Round-and-Round

written by J. J. PANZER

The best career advice I never listened to came from my dad: “Don’t be a property manager. You can do better than this!” Having founded RMC in 1980, he managed some challenging assignments. He’d put in his time in the industry by the time I was starting to wonder what I’d realistically do when I grew up.

He managed buildings in the Tenderloin through court-appointed receiverships and dealt with drug dealers and gangs. My dad promised to send me to college to get a degree and allow me to do something, anything, different. He’d learned so many lessons the hard way and didn’t want to see me go through the same challenges he’d faced in our business. Thankfully his experience and teaching have prevented me from learning those lessons the hard way.

When I joined the company shortly after graduating from UC Berkeley in 2002, I had no idea I’d decide to stick around and buy the company, still running the show more than twenty years later and serving as your San Francisco Apartment Association President. It’s an honor and a privilege to have the support of the membership and my fellow board members, and to work closely with Janan, Vanessa, Charley,

and the rest of our talented, dedicated staff who represent our interests in continuing to operate our businesses here in San Francisco.

I’ve served on the Board since 2013, and my time working with SFAA has always been worthwhile and rewarding, helping me to stay informed and represent my clients as their property manager.

In the coming year, I am looking forward to working with what promises to be a more moderate Board of Supervisors, including our newly elected supervisors Joel Engardio (District 4) and Matt Dorsey (District 6), as well as District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, to support initiatives that will hopefully improve conditions for all of us.

[SF Apartment Magazine sat down for a conversation with DA Brooke Jenkins. Turn to page 20 to read the full Q&A.]

We certainly have a lot of issues affecting our residents’ quality of life, such as crime, homelessness, open-air drug use, and shoplifting. We also desperately need sensible policies about building new housing. At the very least, I am hoping we won’t be facing as much punitive legislation that scapegoats all rental housing operators as a way of retaliating against

certain bad actors who push the boundaries of what’s legal and ethical to increase their bottom lines. I hope our members will continue to educate themselves, stay informed on current events and legislation, and maintain their properties and relationships with their residents.

This year, I’m eager to see our rental market return to a “normal” cyclical demand pattern, which disappeared with COVID in 2020. The cycle felt pretty reliable for many years. Demand was fueled by two categories of people: newcomers and elective movers. The newcomers are people coming to San Francisco for work: corporate relocations, entrepreneurial types coming to seek their fortune in tech startups, and students of all levels. Elective movers are people already living here, undergoing life changes leading to a change in living situation: wanting different roommates, different neighborhoods, or just growing up. The “growing up” category usually includes people coupling up, breaking up, or having children.

Both categories of residents usually start moving in the spring, starting around March 1, with the demand remaining throughout the spring and early summer. Before COVID, residents were ready to sign aggressively priced leases starting ASAP. Newcomer demand usually dipped early to mid-June, but elective movers

Our housing market has always cycled through ups and downs. We’re headed up from here.

would continue their searches, sustaining the market during the summer. Demand from newcomers would resume in late August as employees at more prominent companies came to San Francisco in a final wave before the start of the school year and holidays.

By mid-October, we saw a final dip in demand, when it seemed newcomers had all settled and the students had started school. Elective movers thought, “Gee, Halloween is in two weeks, and then it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe I will stick with my roommates for a while longer and look for a new place in the new year.” Then in January, faced with post-holiday credit card bills, they put off moving a little longer. And so, the annual cycle would begin again in March.

Every time I discuss this cycle with clients, I am reminded how the story is so very San Francisco: our markets rise and fall based on enterprising people coming here to seek their fortune, just like with the Gold Rush that first built this city almost two hundred years ago.

Rental property owners are just one of many businesses that serve the newcomers, just like the entrepreneurs who built their fortunes supplying the miners so many years ago. Our market forces are cyclical, rising and falling with the waves of newcomers coming here to seek their “gold” in our city.

COVID jumbled this in all the ways we’ve observed: working in an office is no longer mandatory, so companies don’t relocate employees nearly as often. People are rethinking their education plans, apartment amenities, and neighborhoods. During the pandemic, the only people expressing interest in our apartments were elective movers looking for the best deal; they had zero motivation to sign a lease unless it was a screaming deal. Instead of signing leases for an immediate move-in or even within two weeks, elective movers haggled asking prices down by $500 per month or more, asking for four to six weeks of lead time.

My clients rarely entertained these offers, but it was hard times waiting for the market to rebound through the first half of 2021 before vaccines were introduced, and businesses could reopen safely with necessary precautions.

In the years to come, we will all have an additional challenge to face when demand for rental housing declines: the vacancy tax. The clear intent is to prevent owners from holding properties until they find a tenant willing to pay a certain amount or until the market recovers.

During the pandemic, I spent so much energy trying to convince my clients with significant vacancies to have faith in the value of their apartments and not chase a crashing market. Unfortunately, now they will have to pay a tax for the right to hold pricing when the market is declining.

J. J. Panzer is the new president of the San Francisco Apartment Association. He’s the owner and president of Real Management Company, where he began working full time in 2002. His father, Joel, founded the company in 1980, and not too long after, J. J. spent his summers helping out in the office. J. J. can be reached at 415-821-3167.

It’s Your Beeswax

written by VARIOUS AUTHORS

Q.One of our apartments has a bed bug infestation. We believe that the tenant brought them in. Who is responsible for remedying the situation?

A.You are entirely responsible for remedying the situation, period. It does not matter who you think brought the bed bugs in. You, as the housing provider, have the nondelegable duty to rid the rental housing of pests. In California, there is a strict duty to provide and maintain what is termed as “habitable” rental housing. This duty lies squarely with the owner and operator and cannot be passed onto the resident. This law has been on the books for more than fifty years and is increasingly strengthened by new local and state laws as well as court decisions. Indeed, the seminal case came out of San Francisco in the early 1970s.

This duty to deliver and maintain habitable housing may be summarized as follows:

• The building’s floors, walls, stairs, and roofs must be safe, operable, and intact. Roof leaks must be addressed and fixed as quickly as feasible.

• All building common areas, including stairways and hallways, must be

kept in a safe and sanitary condition. Regularly check your exterior wood staircases for dry rot, and repair any rotten floorboards or railings immediately.

• All plumbing and electrical systems, including any elevators, as well as HVAC appliances must be safely operable. This means in San Francisco that there must be a permanent heat source capable of heating all habitable rooms to 70 degrees 24 hours per day. Space heaters are not safe and do not satisfy the heat requirement. If the elevator needs repairs, downtime should be minimized.

• There must be sufficient waste and recycling removal services. In San Francisco, there are mandatory composting and recycling rules; as such, please ensure that you have the correct bins available (blue for recycling, black for landfill, green for composting), and that all building residents have adequate space for reasonable weekly disposal of waste, composting, and recycling items.

• Both hot and cold water must be available. Check to ensure that the hot water heaters properly work. Please take precautions to prevent scalding water from being released,

as that could cause serious injury especially to children.

• Exterminate infestations of rodents and other pests, including bed bugs. Yes, this obligation is part of the warranty of habitability and cannot be ignored or imparted onto your residents.

• Manage and, if necessary, remediate known hazards such as asbestos, lead paint, and mold so that they do not endanger the occupants.

The above list is not exhaustive. There may be other requirements depending upon local laws and the condition of the building. But there is a common theme here, which is this: The housing provider, not the resident, is cost responsible for full compliance. If there is an uncured breach of the warranty of habitability, the residents may not be responsible for rent and you may be liable for actual and punitive damages, as well as attorney fees incurred by the resident to compel compliance. In addition, the Rent Board might permanently reduce rent until the problems are fully rectified.

Lastly, some members of our industry have suggested holding the residents responsible for the repair or, in this instance, extermination costs if there is sound evidence that the defect or infestation was caused by the tenant. This author believes you may be able to pursue that remedy in small claims court. However, you as the owner/operator must still properly and

No matter who causes a problem, owners are responsible for maintaining habitable housing.

expeditiously rectify the situation at your cost. Taking immediate action may not be dependent upon seeking or obtaining financial reimbursement.

—Dave Wasserman

Q.A retired tenant in my fourplex sweeps the patio and pathways each week. He just put potted plants around the building exterior and maintains them. It seems he enjoys it and I appreciate it, so we haven’t discussed it. He recently asked for compensation in the form of a small rent reduction. I’m happy to oblige, but don’t want this agreement to get me in trouble. Should I be wary?

A.This sounds like a charming relationship where an earnest old man is trying to make your building more beautiful, and it’s hard to imagine how this could go wrong. That said, I’ve imagined several ways this could go wrong.

First, is the rent reduction tied to a certain amount of labor? Is the rent still reduced if he misses a few weeks? What’s the base rent for purposes of the annual allowable increase? Is the rent still reduced if he can no longer do the work as he ages? If not, how do you restore the original contract rent? To what degree is he your agent? If he performs these tasks in a way that leads to injury (let’s say, pooling water causes someone to slip), should you have been supervising his activities? Preventing him from doing them negligently? Whose responsibility is it to replace the plants if they die?

While his chores are mostly about common area beautification, an expanded role down the road (particularly with matters relating to conventional property management, like if he helped show a vacant apartment while you were out of town) might lend itself to an argument that his relationship with you is governed by wage and labor law in addition to landlord-tenant law (and you’d find yourself trying to conform to both retroactively). If you ever want to remove

the plants, does he now have the “housing service” of common area plants? And could you therefore lose both the gratuitous rent credit and the subjective value of the plants to his enjoyment of his tenancy?

As a practical matter, probably none of this would come to pass, and your tenant’s efforts would only enhance your property. If we always listened to lawyers worry about the worst that could happen, nothing could get done. But to minimize potential risk: Paying him to do the chores would be better than entangling it with his rental rate. The arrangement should be in writing and clearly defined (so you can end it if he isn’t fulfilling his promises). It should make clear that he has not paid additional rent to have potted plants, that he understands he has no control over common area, and that the existence of these potted plants are not a housing service.

Nothing in your proposal was bad; these things only go wrong when they go wrong, and you see the problems in retrospect. But the San Francisco residential tenancy is exceptionally tricky and difficult to unwind. The fewer roles get blended into it, the better.

—Justin A. Goodman

The information contained in this article is general in nature. Consult the advice of an attorney for any specific problem. Dave Wasserman is with Wasserman Offices and can be reached at 415-567-9600. Justin A. Goodman is with Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, P.C. and can be reached at 415-956-8100.

Mike Stack Real Estate Advisor

Photo by Edward Caldwell.

Safety In Numbers

Public safety and social justice are District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’s priorities—and she needs our help to clean up the city.

Written by PAM MCELROY

Pam McElroy: First, congratulations on winning the election! How have your priorities changed since you were appointed by Mayor Breed to going into your first term?

DA Jenkins: Thank you! One of the first things I had to do after being appointed was rebuild this office. If the office is not functioning at its highest level, we cannot improve public safety.

When I walked back into this office, it was a shell of itself. I had been a prosecutor here for more than seven years prior to that brief resignation, before being appointed, and most of our senior attorneys had gone. We’d lost sixty-plus attorneys. We’d lost half of our advocates in the Victims Services Unit. Our management staff had only one experienced prosecutor left.

I had to make sure the people managing this office, handling cases, and working with victims, had the experience to handle the cases correctly. That was number one. I brought in my own executive team—some were people I promoted from within—but mainly I brought back people who had previously worked in this office, most of them having left during the Chesa Boudin era.

I hired experienced attorneys. When you’re talking about homicide, sexual assault, domestic violence—those units must have experienced prosecutors who know what it’s like to work with victims; victims reluctant to participate in the system. They have to know how to introduce complex evidence in court, how to prove our cases to a jury.

Another thing we had to fix was the fact that we were a house divided. It was people Chesa had hired versus people I had hired. We can’t work like that; we have to work as one team. People have to feel safe and comfortable.

We’ve done a lot to make sure that everyone who is here, is here. That they understand we’re on the same team, working toward the same mission, which is promoting public safety in this city, advocating for victims, and making sure our cases are handled fairly and appropriately.

Now, we’re pretty much there; things have stabilized inside.

McElroy: And how have your priorities shifted since then?

DA Jenkins: My next priority was to work on drug dealing. I see it as an ecosystem. Drug dealing fuels addiction; addiction begets theft crimes; it exacerbates mental health issues in those already struggling; it breeds violence. I knew that if we started to deal with that issue, it would assist in decreasing some of the collateral consequences. We had to decide how we were going to responsibly handle drug dealing cases.

We can’t effectively decriminalize drug dealing—which is what had happened under the previous administration. I had to set guidelines. We had to start seeking detention in cases with egregious sellers. We began admonishing sellers who were found to have sold fentanyl to someone who died that they could be charged with murder. We did a number of things to make sure these cases moved through the system more responsibly.

And so, we started working more closely with the police. We’ve been along this path for the last eight months, talking about what policing of drug dealing looks like, what we need to prove cases. We’re investing in a partnership with the Public Defender’s Office, which hasn’t happened in a long time.

The next focus for me was retail theft crime. What’s clear to me—and I think most people—is that theft is completely out of control. Nobody can go into a store anymore and just get detergent, or toothpaste, or deodorant, because it is locked behind glass.

It’s exhausting for us as residents and consumers. It’s exhausting for store employees who can’t just do their job the normal way. They’re tired of having to chase people out of the store who are stealing, being assaulted by people when they try to stop them. And these companies cannot withstand the amount of theft that’s happening—both big-box retailers and our small businesses.

It is our job to protect our economy, to protect these massive employers, to protect San Francisco residents, and to keep products available in our city. Otherwise, the small businesses will close, and retailers will leave our city.

I’ve been working with retailers directly on what we can do for them, while also communicating what we need them to do for us. We need store associates to testify. Over the years, I’ve experienced not being able to contact them, or people not being able to take a day off to testify. We are working with retailers to improve those situations and ensure we have the tools necessary to prosecute. We need to be at the table, looking at what policing looks like to assist in preventing these thefts and catching the people who commit them.

We’ve got more robberies than anyone should ever see in this city, and a lot of violent street crime, such as the assaults against the Asian community that were occurring when I took over. We had to restructure our office so that these serious cases get the attention they need.

I’ve already mentioned the importance of having adequate, experienced staff. The General Felonies Unit handled every type of felony crime, with the exception of murder, sexual assault, and domestic violence. That’s a lot of crimes—drug dealing, gun possession, assault, attempted murder, burglary, robbery, you name it. It spans a massive spectrum, and most of those lawyers

have 150 cases. I had over 150 of those cases when I was in that unit. It is impossible for people who lack significant experience to give all those cases the attention that they require.

To fix this, I established a Vulnerable Victims unit, which took over assaults and violent crimes against the elderly, hate crimes, and non-family-related assaults. I staffed this unit with attorneys experienced working with victims and people who might be struggling to understand the system, who might be from another country and monolingual.

The Vulnerable Victims unit has made huge strides, holding the hands of these victims and ushering them through the process. We no longer have issues with people saying they were not informed of court dates or they didn’t receive the support they needed.

I also established a Major Crimes unit, which focuses on serious robbery cases and attempted murders. We now have three experienced attorneys handling these violent crimes, where before, they would have been housed with more junior attorneys in the General Felonies Unit.

Pam McElroy: Can you expand on that? How are you planning on working with the community to provide victim services and ensure accountability?

DA Jenkins: I hired a new Chief of Victim Services, Monifa Willis. She’s a nurse practitioner in psychiatry who has worked in juvenile mental health and trauma-informed care throughout her twenty-plus-year career.

We needed somebody who knows what to do for people who have experienced significant trauma. I wanted someone who could help us work within our juvenile system, to be more understanding of the mental health of our juvenile population. To help us be more informed in how we deal with our kids. She is making tremendous strides in training that unit. She’s hiring to ensure culturally competent care. We are doing far more community outreach, not just waiting for a victim to come to us but going to them in the community.

Pam McElroy: What is your plan for open-air drug use and open-air drug dealing?

DA Jenkins: I have a six-year-old and a three-year-old, and I don’t want them growing up in a city where that is portrayed as something normal. I can’t, as a mother, tell my children to stay away from drugs but have everything else appear as though that is normal behavior that people just engage in, openly. I took this issue personally.

I also understood that people were ready for law enforcement to step up. The police had decided it was time to start citing individuals who were publicly using drugs. I sat down with the

police to talk about their approach. Then we mapped out what we were going to do on the prosecution side.

We decided we would give a warning and not criminalize after a first citation. But what is fair? What is the best way to deal with somebody who’s struggling with addiction and can’t necessarily control that impulse? We came to a threshold of five citations, after which, we would pull that person into the criminal justice system.

I thought I would receive a lot of backlash, but the opposite happened. Even in the most progressive circles, people thought that threshold was too high. So, we tracked the data for a few months, knowing we might have to course correct. When it came time to analyze the data, we realized five citations was too many and reduced the number to three citations. A complaint is filed with all three citations noted, and the offender is sent to treatment court.

When more than thirty people had been cited three times, we went back to the table with the police. I wanted them to understand that even if we didn’t prosecute on the first or second citation, that didn’t mean we didn’t value the policework. We do value the policework, but this is how we’re combatting the problem.

Pam McElroy: How do you balance that need for social justice and working with police reform while, at the same time, keeping residents safe?

DA Jenkins: This is a very complex job. There’s nothing simple about it. I expect the police to do their jobs well and fairly. I’ve gone around to the stations and have said, ‘The public wants you to do your job. I want you to do your job. But the expectation is that you do it correctly.’

They understand that when they step outside of those bounds, it’s my job to hold them accountable—and I think everyone respects that line. I don’t want cases involving bad police work, unethical police work. Those cases will be rejected from this office. And if the police behavior is criminal, we’ll address it.

It requires dialogue. My staff knows that when they read a police report, they should assess whether the person was treated fairly. Was there a proper search under the 4th Amendment, for example. If not, we shouldn’t proceed on that case.

With respect to social justice, I have tried, throughout my career, to be very balanced in terms of what justice looks like. Justice doesn’t look like one thing in all our cases, but most people we deal with need help in changing the trajectory of their lives.

Keys for Success

Written by PAM MCELROY & WILLIAM NYE

Having worked at nearly every level in the multifamily business—from maintenance supervisor to multifamily executive— William Nye knows a thing or two about the rental housing industry. He now spends his time sharing the knowledge he’s gleaned from his decades of experience. His anecdotal stories keep his sessions on leadership, leasing, maintenance, customer service (and more) humorous and engaging.

Don’t miss him at SFAA’s landlord expo on May 18!

We asked William for a sneak peek of his course, and he delivered below.

10 Keys to Property Management Success

Be intentional about your culture.

Everything you do in business depends on your culture. Company culture is the single most important part of any business. If you don’t focus on building a healthy culture, you will still have a culture, but it won’t be the one you want.

Imagine going outside and digging up a piece of the ground and then leaving it. What happens to that spot? Things begin to grow, but not what you want. You will find weeds have grown in that spot. That is exactly what will happen in your company if you aren’t intentional about growing a healthy culture. You will grow a culture, but it won’t be the one that you want, and as a result, your business will struggle to produce the results you want.

Pay attention to details. Everything you do matters. Lease files need to be done correctly and promptly, vacant apartments should be as perfect as possible, grounds should always look like they are loved and get attention. The details matter and will set you apart from your competition, so pay attention to everything you do. It will send a message to your residents and investors that you care. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right.

Be a person of your word. Residents are so used to being ignored and lied to by landlords. Actually do what you say you’re going to do, and follow up promptly. You will build a reputation for being a first-class operator. Most residents move in to an apartment believing that if something breaks, management won’t fix it, and that if they pay a refundable security deposit, management will find a way to keep from refunding the money when they move out.

Read on for property management tips from William Nye the Apartment Guy.

SFAA LANDLORD EXPO

HEAR WILLIAM NYE IN PERSON AS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE SAN FRANCISCO APARTMENT ASSOCIATION LANDLORD EXPO!

Come join SFAA and local rental property owners for a free educational event covering all things multifamily housing. Hear from the Department of Building Inspection, the San Francisco Fire Department, and the San Francisco Rent Board. The event will end with a member appreciation hour where you can chat with vendors, including landlord attorneys, plumbers, property management companies, and more. Look for more details at sfaa.org

Date: May 18, 2023

Time: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Place: Fort Mason Center Gallery 308

Why do our customers have this bias? Because that’s been their experience. We can be different by simply delivering on our promises.

The market is always right. We don’t always know what will or won’t work, but the market will quickly tell us if they see the value in what we are doing. So, pay attention to what the market is telling you because it is ALWAYS right.

Many years ago, Kodak invented the technology for digital photography, but the executives at Kodak didn’t think the market would be interested, so they sold the technology. As we now know, Kodak was completely wrong! Who doesn’t have hundreds of photos in their cell phone? Whether it’s a feature, pricing, or customer service idea, the market will tell you if you are on the right track.

Property management is a team sport. To be great at property management, you must have a complete team

working together toward the same goal. No one person can do it all alone. It takes the entire team rowing together to get the results you want. Asset management, accounting, training, marketing, on-site leasing, and on-site maintenance need to work in harmony with one another to produce the right results.

During my career, I have emphasized that the corporate team exists to support the on-site team—not the other way around. As a corporate employee, I consider myself an expense. The people working on-site need our full support.

You can only cut so much before you become negligent. I often see property owners and management companies cutting expenses to have a better bottom line. Be careful. You can only cut so much before you find yourself with a lot of deferred maintenance, on the cusp of being neglectful.

Of course, you should be wise with your spending, but the best way to a healthy bottom line is to make sure you have a healthy top line. If you begin to neglect the asset, it will show—and soon it will be hard to have a healthy top line because the asset is less desirable. Keep your property clean and well maintained.

Training is a necessity, not a luxury. I see this all the time. Owners don’t want to close the office to send their team to a training session because they don’t want to lose a potential resident. This is shortsighted and will not serve your best interests in the long term. A better-trained team is happier, more efficient, and more productive. Investing in training is investing in your team. The more you invest in them, the more they feel appreciated.

Be an excellent communicator. Let your team know what you expect. Make sure they know how to do what you need them to do. Don’t keep your team in the dark.

Rarely do we make mistakes because we don’t know what we are doing. Rarely do we make mistakes because we don’t care.

We make mistakes every day because someone failed to communicate important information, and as a result, we did the wrong thing or failed to do something that we should have done.

Markets will always go up and down. Don’t let the current market conditions throw you off of your plan. Have a smart plan and be consistent in the way you work it. Far too often, I see owners panic when the market softens, and they end up making irrational decisions that can’t be undone. Ride out the storm. Things will get better; they always do. Every business has highs and lows, and the multifamily business is no different. I often see owners and management company executives grabbing for anything they think will right the ship. A key to staying focused is to work on maintaining a healthy perspective. I often remind my audience that the mountaintop is where you gain perspective, but the valley is where you grow.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an owner purchase an asset or a management company take on a client that they can’t support. Regardless of the unit count, every asset requires a lot of time and attention. Before you add to your load, make sure you have the infrastructure in place to support it without overburdening the team.

A friend of mine took over two properties in a state in which they had zero experience, about one thousand miles from their corporate headquarters. It wasn’t long before they realized they made a mistake, so they found a local management company and hired them to manage the properties for them. It is fun and exciting to grow, but it needs to happen at a pace that allows you to manage effectively. Far too often we think a company is successful because of the size of the portfolio, but that’s not always an accurate way to measure success.

To learn more about William Nye and his services, visit his website: www.billnyeapartmentguy.com

Walk the Property Line

written by JUSTIN A. GOODMAN

While property ownership (the “fee simple absolute”) has historically been the supreme form of property right, the leasehold has had many of its benefits. The owner’s “bundle of rights” includes the right to use, transfer, encumber, and occupy. But during the leasehold, the lessee enjoys the most important one—the right to occupy. There are barriers to entry for property ownership, but the lessee acquires this right at a much lower cost, generally just the obligation to pay a negotiated rent.

A landlord can use this rent to pay the property’s costs (like financing, taxes, insurance, and upkeep), but if a lessee stops paying rent while maintaining occupancy, the landlord has an urgent problem. In the early nineteenth century, the landlord had common law rights and remedies (like the right to enter and expel the tenant by force). That seems unthinkable today, and part of the reason is that the legislature created the fastest civil proceeding (the “unlawful detainer” action) to recover possession.

A balance was struck where the landlord could speedily recover possession,

ignoring other disputes among the parties, while the lessee received due process and an undisturbed right of possession until it was awarded to the landlord.

However, in recent years, tenants have grown increasingly adept at slowing the speedy remedy to a crawl: tenants dodge service, challenge the complaint to delay their answer, and then overload their answer with meandering affirmative defenses. They bombard with discovery, demand a jury, appeal the result if they lose, and seek a stay of eviction pending appeal. Of course, any defendant is entitled to do all these things; it’s just that San Francisco tenants don’t have to weigh costs and benefits. Their attorneys are free, so the cost is zero, and the delay is a benefit in itself. Thus, even when the system functions normally, it operates to give the tenant the most significant benefit—possession—unless and until the landlord pays them to acquiesce to what should be inevitable.

Other circumstances, though they don’t involve a tenant, will still justify the streamlined unlawful detainer procedures, like when someone was merely licensed to occupy property, their occupancy had been tied to their

former employment, or even where an owner was already in lawful possession, but someone broke in or used force to drive them out. This latter situation sounds a lot like a crime, and you’d think the local police would just say something folksy like, “We’ll take this rascal down to the station, y’all have a good evening” while escorting the owners back in. But the police department will usually err on the side of caution and conclude, “This is a civil matter,” meaning the “squatter with a story” now gets due process before dispossession.

As a lawyer who represents landlords, I don’t believe that possession is really nine-tenths of the law, but it’s easily ninety percent of the benefit. And if the tenant in possession has a benefit superior to the landlord, sometimes an occupant with inferior rights can muster an even more formidable claim to possession. Some particularly strained examples:

A “tenant” applies for a unit, passes the application process, and moves in. The “tenant” stops paying rent. The landlord can’t evict for non-payment (because of a COVID-19 moratorium) and looks for other options to avoid losing the property. An investigation reveals that the “tenant” is an identity thief (who is therefore undeterred even by the threat of a money judgment ruining their credit). One solution is

Owners must be well-informed in creating rights of possession—and make cautious choices when trying to regain property.

the rescission of the lease (on the basis of fraud), and the revocation of the “license” to occupy that arose from the rescinded contract. This threads the needle on invoking the speedy unlawful detainer statutes and getting through the moratorium, though it makes for a decidedly more complicated prove-up.

Another example: Unbeknownst to the landlord, a guest stays with her tenant. Overstaying her welcome, she is permitted to sleep in a garage space. The tenant ends their tenancy, returning the unit to the landlord vacant. But the guest is later in possession of the unit (presumably having broken in), claiming to have a sublease with the departed tenant. Eviction protections extend to known sublessees (not secreted ones), and forcible detainer actions will remove someone who broke in. But the relevant facts are only known to the dishonest defendant and the now departed (and possibly complicit) former tenant, so the path forward is unclear. A solution is to plead both paths, being cautious not to plead inconsistently so that each path frustrates the other. (If they were a subtenant, they didn’t break in. If they gained access as a guest, they weren’t unknown.)

Sometimes the speedy path is the wrong choice altogether. For instance, an owner buys the property out of bankruptcy, inheriting an occupant who claims to be a tenant with a term lease. The lease is commercially unreasonable, with an absurd rent, and the property is unfit for human occupancy, making it all the more unlikely. (But a bankruptcy wants to sell assets and satisfy creditors, not solve puzzles). As you might expect, no rent is ever offered, but should any be accepted? In rare circumstances, even the rent ordinance will permit adjustment to an appropriate rate, but the conditions tee up an indomitable habitability defense to a rent demand case. The Ellis Act or a demolition eviction could theoretically be used, but all of these concede the fraudulent defense—the existence of a tenancy. The unlawful detainer statutes provide no template for this scenario.

One solution is common law ejectment, a regular civil action for recovering possession. It allows murkier theories to proceed at a slower pace but also lets in cross claims (like those against the original bankruptcy debtor), wackier theories (like a surprise, longer term lease with even more favorable terms), and guest stars (like the girlfriend who tries to litigate her rights under the lease to a rent offset for habitability defects at the Rent Board, even though she isn’t even named on the lease, no rent has ever been paid, and the Rent Board, seemingly can’t do anything for the petitioner, but can create a procedural nightmare for the owner with collateral estoppel problems). With forays back into bankruptcy court and games of “whack-a-mole” against the flurry of incessant claims, a case like this could take years, not months, to progress. And when it finally gets to trial, a property owner could be totally justified in agreeing to pay the price of a house anywhere else in the country to get all these moles to burrow somewhere else.

Of course, every one of the above cases is hypothetical, and none of the characters are real—especially the hyper-litigious moles who definitely don’t resemble anyone I’ve ever met. But if I had to write a satisfying (and completely fictitious) epilogue, it would be that, instead of leaving, the supposed “tenant” merely announced his departure, demanded the settlement payment, and then moved right back in as the “guest” of his girlfriend (who was never named a tenant in the fake lease, and was therefore never named a party in the real… err… lawsuit I just made up). She nonetheless claims that she’s a tenant on the lease as well and wants her own windfall to vacate. Unlawful detainer judgments encompass other occupants; ejectment judgments don’t.

One solution is to file an unlawful detainer against her on the basis that she’s merely the subtenant of a departed tenant. (Remember, the subtenant has to be unknown for this to work.) The girlfriend explains that, while she’s not named in the lease, she always contributed to the rent funds and should have been named,

testifying that she was a tenant, not a subtenant. Years prior, the Rent Board, dismissed her petition when she couldn’t establish she was a tenant. Because she insisted she was not a subtenant, she could not later claim to be an approved one. And because the boyfriend claimed he moved out to demand the money, he couldn’t now claim to be back to stop the eviction.

The owner recovered possession in the unlawful detainer action a year after the settlement, essentially through a series of estoppel arguments. When the boyfriend moved the court to order the payment of settlement funds, it ruled that he breached the agreement by failing to deliver possession. If a hypothetical case were to conclude this way, it would be very satisfying to see a smug fraudster lose it all because he didn’t know when to stop lying.

These bizarre situations show how the unlawful detainer statutes are sometimes unrecognizable from their original purpose. Enacted to eliminate the landlord expelling by force, they confer due process when a trespasser does so. The more infirm the basis for entering property, the longer it can sometimes take for the landlord to get them out. And even a proper tenant these days has seen their basic obligation turn to suggestion.

This is a bleak era for property rights, and it’s unlikely the legislature will expand the application of speedy remedies, ease the evidentiary burden of proving them, or mitigate the procedural abuses that are now defensive mainstays. Instead, property owners and managers need to be well-informed in how they create rights of possession, and how they pick fights to get possession back. While the rare case might not have a right answer, most have an inevitable one. Cautious choices along the way should result in the recovery of possession and a good story.

The information contained in this article is general in nature. Consult the advice of an attorney for any specific problem. Justin A. Goodman is with Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, P.C. and can be reached at 415-956-8100.

Koster & Leadbetter LLP The Flood Building 870 Market Street • Suite 450 • San Francisco, CA 94102 www.kosterleadbetter.com

PRACTICAL REAL ESTATE ADVICE YOU CAN COUNT ON

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Bank On It

written by JOHNSON LE

Save these tax tips to save big this tax season.

Avoid tax compliance issues this year by keeping the same processes and procedures that worked as best practices for you. Gather support, respond to your CPA’s inquiries, and don’t delay just because the IRS and FTB granted relief to disaster victims. There are many nuances with relief this year; not all 2022 penalties will be abated for missed or late payments, only for the payments with deadlines within the relief period.

New Extension Due to California’s Winter Storms October 16, 2023, is the new filing and payment deadline for those living in the counties affected by the severe California winter storms. The October 16 extension date applies to tax payments related to both individuals and businesses, including extension payments, estimated tax payments, business tax payments, and more if the payment deadline falls within the relief period. You now have until October 16 to file, too; however, that does not mean you can request an extension for an additional six months.

You may be asking yourself, Am I eligible for this relief? You are if you show that your tax return address is in a disaster area—and the relief will be automatic.

So, which counties are announced under the disaster declaration?

It is faster to list the counties not eligible for relief: Imperial, Kern, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, and Sierra counties. Even if you are ineligible for relief because you live in one of the counties named above, your tax professional may be working from a disaster area that can provide you with relief eligibility. You may need to contact the IRS disaster hotline (1-866-562-5227) to request relief if going this route. The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) only asks that you substantiate and document your eligibility.

Now, let’s get into the tax tips that could help you with significant savings.

Cost Segregation Study

Driving through San Francisco, I often admire the large residential buildings and apartment complexes. What would it be like living in one that is tens of stories tall? Is the air fresher up there? What are the rental property owners depreciating? How are they allocating costs to the fixed-asset components that could be segregated to have different depreciable lives? I don’t know the answers to the first two, but the last question is accelerated depreciation.

Your prior tax accountant may have read the purchase statement and split the purchase costs between land and building for depreciation purposes. A cost segregation study will identify and segregate the personal property and

qualified improvement property from real property, thus carving out a portion of the costs and changing its depreciable life from 39 or 27.5 years to 5 to 15 years. This results in portions of a fixed asset, say a building, to split a larger asset to smaller components to be able to claim bonus depreciation.

Although our firm does not perform cost segregation studies, we like to inform people of their options. This study is applicable to all industries that depreciate.

Ownership of Foreign Rental Properties

Do you ever think about selling your San Francisco rental property and investing in a foreign country? The grass may be greener, but we’ll inform you of some key tax and filing differences that may affect your decision.

Foreign rental properties must be depreciated under the Alternative Depreciation System (ADS) instead of the General Depreciation System (GDS). That means you will have to depreciate your foreign rental property over 30 or 40 years instead of the 27.5 years for domestic rental properties. 30 or 40 years of depreciable life is based on whether the property is a residential or non-residential rental property and the date the property was rented out to tenants.

Cliff Notes: Your depreciation expense to shelter rental income is spread out longer; thus, you will receive fewer immediate tax benefits.

Landlord & Leasing Agent, A Winning Combo.

Having over 25 rental units of her own, Jackie brings rst-hand experience as a landlord to all of our Rentals In S.F. clients.

Every day, our team endeavors to nd quali ed tenants for our clients. With an expert understanding of the ever changing San Francisco rental market, we have made it our priority to ll your vacant unit quickly, e ortlessly, at market rent and with your ideal tenant!

With just one phone call, Jackie will come over to access your needs, appraise your unit, and do all the marketing, prospecting and screening. We then present you with a quali ed tenant ready to move in.

Call Jackie at Rentals In S.F. to ll your vacancy. It will be one of the best calls you’ll ever make. Just ask all our clients!

Former SFAA winner

* Leasing Agent of the Year

* Landlord of the Year

YOUR TAX QUESTIONS— ANSWERED

Q. Would a loss of rental income (due to extended power outages) from the winter rainstorms fall under the Disaster Relief umbrella?

A. Unfortunately, loss of rental income due to power outages from the storms does not fall under the disaster relief.

Q. If a 1% interest in a property is transferred from parent to child (or child to parent), do BOTH parties have to reside at the property in order to NOT have the property reassessed? My daughter now lives in Oregon and no longer wants an interest in the property.

A. We understand the question to be about the new law passed under Proposition 19 and the requirements to be excluded from reassessment.

Once our office determines that a change of ownership has occurred, state law under Proposition 13 requires us to reassess the property to its current fair market value as of the date the ownership changed. From the situation you described, where 1% of the property changed ownership (from the parent to the daughter), only that portion of the property that changed ownership would be subject to reappraisal.

Since 1% of your property was transferred, our office would reassess only 1% of the property at its fair market value as of the date of the transfer and deduct the remaining from any existing base year value.

For the property not to be reassessed under the Prop 19 Parent to Child Reassessment Exclusion, the property must be the principal residence of the transferor and be (or become) the principal residence of the transferee (transferee must file a Homeowner’s Exemption claim form within one year of the transfer date to qualify for the Prop 19 exclusion). Also, Prop 19 has a value limit component, so it’s not like Prop 58, where it would be fully excluded. The assessor’s office will work on the value calculation based on the fair market value to determine if the transfer qualifies for the Prop 19 exclusion.

The above questions were answered by San Francisco’s Office of the Assessor-Recorder.

A 1031 exchange to defer gain on the sale of your rental property to invest in a foreign rental property is not allowed.

Additional potential form filings to consider include the FinCEN’s report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) for reporting of foreign bank accounts used to deposit and withdraw money from your foreign rental property; the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’s benchmark survey that is due every five years; and the IRS Form 8858, if the foreign rental property is owned by you individually.

Continue to Document Your Support

Good record keeping will help you identify all sources of rental deductions taken, including the cost basis calculations for the rental properties for depreciation purposes. Ready access to this information will help you prepare your financial statements, and file tax returns compliantly and smoothly. In case of an IRS information document request, you will have all supporting documentation on hand to satisfy any requests.

It is imperative to maintain supporting documentation reported on your tax returns. The necessary support you need for any deduction expenses includes receipts, canceled checks, or invoices. If you were ever to be audited, you would need this evidence to prove that you were entitled to what was taken. If in doubt, make a copy and store the supporting documents electronically or have a specified cabinet for your financial and tax information. Although tax records should be stored for at least seven years, we suggest keeping real estate documents for at least the life of the asset.

As with anything tax-related, if the interpretation is unclear or you have questions about potential tax breaks or liabilities, you should seek guidance from a tax professional.

Johnson Le is a CPA with Shwiff, Levy & Polo. He can be reached at 415-291-8600.

S a n F r a n c i s c o A p a r t m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n

Landlord Expo

R e n t a l H o u s i n g E x p o : C l a s s e s , C o m m u n i t y & H a p p y H o u r

M a y 1 8 , 2 0 2 3 12 pm - 4 pm

F o r t M a s o n C e n t e r - G a l l e r y 3 0 8

Happy Hour 4-5 pm

T h e F i r s t A n n u a l L a n d l o r d E x p o w i l l o f f e r a t t e n d e e s a c h a n c e

t o e n g a g e w i t h c i t y a g e n c i e s , i n d u s t r y e x p e r t s , a n d f e l l o w

r e n t a l p r o p e r t y o w n e r s t h r o u g h a p a c k e d s c h e d u l e o f

f r e e c l a s s e s a n d Q & A p a n e l s .

M u l t i - H o u s i n g E x t r a v a g a n z a P a r t i c i p a t i n g I n d u s t r y P a r t n e r s

Zacks, Freedman & Patterson, PC – one of the Bay Area’s leading real estate law firms – is proud to announce the addition of three new attorneys to our team.

Laura Strazzo brings broad insight into California real estate law. Her practice covers a range of real estate matters including land use, nondisclosure and boundary-line disputes, construction defects, landlord-tenant, and compliance issues. Laura also has experience in energy and environmental law.

Brian O’Neill brings extensive experience in land use and environmental law. Prior to joining the firm, Brian worked at the California Coastal Commission on permit appeals for a wide range of projects, including subdivisions, commercial and residential development, affordable housing, and infrastructure. He regularly appears before planning commissions, city councils, and other government agencies.

Robert Little’s practice focuses on real estate litigation, including challenges to local ordinances and administrative decisions, landlord/tenant disputes, property rights, and land use. Robert received a J.D. and M.B.A. dual degree from the University of Wyoming, where he focused on environmental and business law.

Laura Strazzo Attorney at Law

Brian O’Neill Attorney at Law

Little Attorney at Law

sfaa’s

Noise Complaints Webinar

Does your tenant make a lot of noise? Are other tenants complaining about another tenant’s noise? What are the rules for quiet time in a building? Learn how to deal with nuisance noise compaints.

The instructor is Michelle Horneff-Cohen of Property Management Systems.

DATE & TIME:

Thursday April 20, 2023

11:00 pm - 12:00 pm

COST

Members: $45

Nonmembers: $65

REGISTRATION: Contact Stephanie Alonzo at 415.255.2288 x113 or stephanie@sfaa.org

Once you complete registration you will be sent a separate link to register for the Zoom system.

sfaa’s Rodent

Review

One of the challenges living in the Bay Area can be keeping homes free of rodents. Tenants can file complaints as they encounter rodents or see activity in the space they occupy. What do you know about rodents, their behavior to better resolve an infestation? We will offer some basic identification keys and make you aware of rodent’s behaviors. Additionally, you will be armed to be able to seal your structure to be able to keep rodent as bay.

The Instructor is Richard Estrada, ATCO Pest & Termite Control and Home Restoration.

DATE & TIME:

Wednesday April 19, 2023

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

COST

Members: $45

Nonmembers: $65

REGISTRATION: Contact Maria Shea at 415.255.2288 x110 or maria@sfaa.org

Once you complete registration you will be sent a separate link to register for the Zoom system.

Lost Clause

written by DEBRA L. CARLTON

The California State Legislature is back in session, looking for new ways to control an already over-regulated rental housing industry.

Bills introduced so far address a myriad of landlord-tenant issues, ranging from rent control to criminal background checks to security deposits.

In the following paragraphs, we’ll review some of the highest-profile bills introduced.

Rent Control

SB 466 by Senator Aisha Wahab (DHayward) would authorize California cities and counties to impose strict rent controls on single-family homes, condominiums, and apartments as soon as they turn fifteen.

The legislation would dissolve core elements of the landmark CostaHawkins Rental Housing Act, California’s most important rental housing protection law.

Wahab’s proposal is one of two attacks on Costa-Hawkins at present. The other attack began late last year when anti-housing activists launched a campaign to repeal the landmark legislation through a proposed statewide ballot initiative targeted for 2024.

Costa-Hawkins prohibits cities and counties from imposing local rent control ordinances on any type of housing built after 1995, although the cutoff is earlier in some cities with rent control ordinances that pre-date Costa-Hawkins. It also bans local rent controls on single-family homes and condos of any age. SB 466 would undo these tenets of Costa-Hawkins.

At the same time, a proposed ballot measure, “Justice For Renters Act,” would go further by eliminating the landmark legislation. It would thereby allow strict local rent controls on all residential rental buildings. It would also allow local governments to control rents even after a tenant has moved out—a policy known as vacancy control. Without vacancy decontrol (which Costa-Hawkins mandates), cities and counties would regain the ability to regulate rents between tenancies, preventing rents from ever returning to market rates.

The assaults on Costa-Hawkins come despite the passage of California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, America’s strongest statewide tenant-protection law. This legislation, passed as AB 1482, created a statewide rent cap of 5% plus the change in the consumer price index, or 10%, whichever is lower.

For the most part, AB 1482’s rent cap applies to properties at least fifteen years old and smaller properties, like single-family homes, controlled by corporations. Note: The CostaHawkins prohibition on rent controls for post-1995 construction only applies to local ordinances. AB 1482 applies in areas not controlled by a local rent control law.

Criminal Records

SB 460, also from Wahab, would prohibit most California landlords from using criminal background checks as part of the tenant-screening process. The legislation would create the “Fair Chance Access to Housing Act” and prohibit most rental housing providers from directly or indirectly:

• inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history

• requiring an applicant to disclose their criminal history

• requiring an applicant to authorize the release of their criminal history

The bill also would prohibit property owners from denying housing based on their knowledge of an applicant’s criminal records obtained from prior landlords or other sources.

The bill would not apply to singlefamily homes, accessory units, and duplexes where the property owner

The California Legislature had a busy first quarter.

sfaa2023calendar

sfaa 2023

April

MONDAY, APRIL 3

Board of Directors Mtg. 11:30 a.m.

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

Addenda Process Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12

Getting the Most Out of Your Technology Intellirent Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

FREE for SFAA Members

THURSDAY, APRIL 13

Executing Lease & Move-in Checklist Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19

Virtual Member Meeting

Live Legal Panel

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26

Asset Protection

Open Forum Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19

Rodents-Keeping Those

Unwanted Guests Out Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

Roommates & the Revolving Door

Zoom Webinar System

2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, APRIL 20

Hoarding Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, APRIL 20

Noise Complaints Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

SFAA office will be closed Monday, May 29th in observance of Memorial Day.

May

MONDAY, MAY 1

Board of Directors Mtg.

11:30 a.m.

TUESDAY, MAY 2

Guard Yourself from Predators, Creditors, Liens & Judgements

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 4

Smoking & Smell Complaints Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 4

Landlord 101 Part I Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Members $65 Non Members $130

THURSDAY, MAY 11

Lease Enforcement Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

FRIDAY, MAY 19

SFAA Lease Review & Renewal Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 11

Landlord 101 Part II Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Members $65 Non Members $130

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24

Termites 101 Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 18

Dealing with Difficult Residents Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 25

ESA vs. Pets Webinar

Zoom Webinar System

10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Members $45 Non Members $65

THURSDAY, MAY 18 In Person Landlord Expo Fort Mason Center, Gallery 308 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. FREE

Member Appreciation Happy Hour 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO’S RENT BOARD FEE $29.50

Chapter 37A of San Francisco’s Administrative Code allows the city to collect a per-unit fee for each residential dwelling unit that is subject to the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. This fee defrays the entire cost of operation of the Rent Board. This fee is billed to the landlord each year on the property tax statement sent in November, but the law permits landlords to collect a portion of the Rent Board fee from those tenants in occupancy as of November 1 of each year. A landlord is allowed to collect 50% of the cost of the fee from the tenant. If you have not collected Rent Board fees in the past, you can collect back to 1999.

SFAA’S TENANT SCREENING SERVICE

THROUGH INTELLIRENT

STEP 1:

Create a free account at sfaa. myintellirent.com/agent-signup.

STEP 2:

Invite an applicant to apply via an online application customized to SFAA’s criteria. You can also publish your available rental on Intellirent across mulitple ILSs.

RATES

Intellirent is your free, online rental application and property marketing tool, partnered with Transunion to instantly return complete credit reports and nationwide eviction notices. Renters pay the $40 application fee, which covers your costs. For more information, simply create your free account or go to sfaa.org and choose the “Resources” tab. Then select “Tenant Screening.”

Please note that the maximum you can charge a tenant for screening services is $49.12.

CONTACT INTELLIRENT FOR

MORE INFORMATION:

415-849-4400

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS

The capital improvement interest rates for 3/1/23 through 2/29/24 are listed below:

INTEREST ON DEPOSITS

Deposits include all tenant monies that the owner holds, regardless of what they are called. At the landlord’s option, the payment may be made directly to the tenant or by allowing the tenant to deduct the amount of interest due from the rental payment.

ALLOWABLE RENT INCREASES

2023 - 2024: 3.6%

Effective March 1, 2022, through February 28, 2023, the allowable annual rent increase is 2.3 %. This amount is based on 60% of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers in the Bay Area. A history of all allowable increases and their effective periods is provided.

2006-2007 $11.00

2005-2006 $10.00

2004-2005 $11.00

CONTACT THE SAN FRANCISCO RENT BOARD FOR MORE INFORMATION

415-252-4600 sfgov.org/rentboard

SFAA Professional Services Directory

1031 TAX DEFERRED EXCHANGE SERVICES

FIRST AMERICAN EXCHANGE COMPANY

Lisa Jackson 415-244-1339 lisajackson@firstam.com

LAWYERS EQUITY EXCHANGE

Brian Fogarty 415-701-1234 www.lex1031.com

SEQUENT

Eric Scaff 415-834-1031 sequent-rewm.com escaff@sequent-rewm.com

ACCOUNTANTS

SHWIFF, LEVY & POLO LLP

Elizabeth Shwiff 415-291-8600 x232 www.slpconsults.com

ALARM COMPANY

AEC ALARMS

Yat-Cheong Au 408-298-8888 Ext: 188 sales@aec-alarms.com

ARCHITECTURE

OPENSCOPE STUDIO ARCHITECTS

Mark Hogan 415-891-0954 yatcheong@aec-alarms.com

Q ARCHITECTURE

Dawn Ma 415-695-2700 www.que-arch.com

ASSOCIATIONS

PROFESSIONAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

Renee A. Engelen www.ppmaofsf.org renee@hrhrealestate.com

ATTORNEYS

BARTH CALDERON, LLP

Paul Hitchcock 415-577-4685 Paul@barthattorneys.com

All languages welcome

BORNSTEIN LAW

Daniel Bornstein, Esq. 415-409-7611 www.bornstein.law

CHONG LAW

Dolores Chong 415-437-7807 chongdolores@earthlink.net

DOWLING & MARQUEZ, LLP

Jak S. Marquez 415-977-0444 x232 www.dowlingmarquez.com

Spanish

FRANK KIM ESQ., EVICTION ASSISTANCE

Jo Biel 415-752-6070

Spanish, Korean, Cantonese and Mandarin

KIMBALL, TIREY & ST. JOHN LLP

Kelli Dodson 800-525-1690

kelli.dodson@kts-law.com www.kts-law.com

FRIED, WILLIAMS & GRICE CONNOR

Clifford E. Fried 415-421-0100 www.friedwilliams.com

French, Spanish and Portuguese

HERZIG & BERLESE

Barbara Herzig 415-861-8800 bherzig@hbcondolaw.com

ILENE M. HOCHSTEIN, ATTORNEY AT LAW

Ilene Hochstein 650-877-8288 ilene@hochsteinlaw.net

KAUFMAN, DOLOWICH, VOLUCK

Ashley Klein 415-926-7612 aklein@kdvlaw.com

LAW OFFICES OF KOSTER & LEADBETTER, LLP

Denise Leadbetter 415-713-8680 denise@kosterleadbetterlaw.com www.kosterleadbetterlaw.com

LAW OFFICE OF MICHAEL HEATH

Michael Heath 415-931-4207

Mheath_law@sbcglobal.net

Mandarin

LAW OFFICE OF EDWARD KAIGH, PC

Edward Kaigh 917-406-6063 edward@kaighlaw.com

LAW OFFICES OF SCOTT T. OKAMOTO

Scott T. Okamoto 415-766-5871 www.scottokamotolaw.com

LAW OFFICE OF JULIANA E. PISANI

Juliana Pisani 415-800-7562

Juliana@jpisanilaw.com

Italian

LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE M. SCANCARELLI

Lawrence M. Scancarelli 415-398-1644 www.sfrealestatelaw.com

THE LAW OFFICE OF ED SINGER

Edward Singer 650-393-5862 www.edsinger.net

MASTROMONACO REAL PROPERTY LAW GROUP

Leonard Mastromonaco 415-354-2702 len@mastrolawgroup.com

MCLAUGHLIN SANCHEZ, LLP

Michael McLaughlin 415-655-9753 www.msllp.law

NIVEN & SMITH

Leo M. LaRocca 415-981-5451 leo@nivensmith.com

REUBEN, JUNIUS & ROSE, LLP

Kevin Rose 415-567-9000 www.reubenlaw.com

SHEPPARD-UZIEL LAW FIRM

Jaime Uziel 415-296-0900 ju@sheppardlaw.com

STEVEN ADAIR MACDONALD & ASSOCIATES, PC

Steven Adair MacDonald 415-956-6488

www.samlaw.net

sam@samlaw.net

Mandarin, Cantonese & Spanish

WASSERMAN

Dave Wasserman 415-567-9600

Dave@wassermanoffices.com

www.davewassermansf.com

WIEGEL LAW GROUP

Andrew J. Wiegel 415-552-8230

www.wiegellawgroup.com

ZACKS, FREEDMAN & PATTERSON, P.C.

Andrew M. Zacks 415-956-8100

www.zfplaw.com

ZANGHI TORRES ARSHAWSKY, LLP

John P. Zanghi 415-977-0444

www.zatlaw.com

BEDBUG DETECTION

CROWN & SHIELD PEST SOLUTIONS-PREMIER

Aurora Garcia-Vidaca 415-893-9551

www.crownandshieldpestsolutions.com

PREMIER CANINE DETECTION

Jordan Garcia 415-612-6645

www.premiercaninedectection.com

COMMERCIAL/RETAIL LEASING SERVICES

BLATTEIS REALTY CO.

David Blatteis 415-981-2844

www.sfretail.net

CONSTRUCTION

PODS

Chad Schutt 310-270-5127

cschutt@pods.com

CONSULTANTS: PERMITS & PLANNING

EDRINGTON AND ASSOCIATES

Steven Edrington 510-749-4880

steve@edringtonandassociates.com

CONTRACTORS

DECK & BALCONY INSPECTIONS, INC.

Dan Cronk 916-548-6943

dan@deckandbalconyinspections.com

CORPORATE RENTALS

AMSI

Robb Fleischer 415-447-2020

www.amsires.com

CREDIT REPORTING

INTELLIRENT

Cassandra Joachim 415-849-4400

www.myintellirent.com

DRAIN SERVICES

PRIBUSS ENGINEERING, INC.

Selina Pribuss 650-588-0447 selina.p@pribuss.com www.pribuss.com

EMERGENCY SERVICES

THE GREENSPAN CO./ ADJUSTERS INTERNATIONAL

Rebecca Holloway 707-540-5584 rebecca@greenspan-ai.com

ENERGY SERVICES

ARMADA POWER

RECOLOGY SUNSET SCAVENGER

Dan Negron 415-330-2911 recologysf.com

VALET LIVING

Briana Sellers 813-613-5073 briana.sellers@valetliving.com www.valetliving.com

HUMAN RESOURCES

INTERSOLTUTIONS, LLC jhong@intersolutions.com

INSURANCE COMPANIES

ARM MULTI INSURANCE SERVICES

WEST COAST PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Joseph Keng 415-885-6970 ext. 101 www.wcpm.com

MEDIATION

THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO CONFLICT INTERVENTION SERVICE

Scott Goering 415-782-8940 sgoering@sfbar.org

PACKAGE SERVICE

FETCH

Dan Beary 978-503-9540 dbeary@fetchpackage.com

David Myers

614-918-7493 dmyers@armadapower.com

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING

P.W. STEPHENS ENVIRONMENTAL

Sheri Buenz 510-651-9506 sherib@pwsei.com

FACADE INSPECTIONS

BORNE CONSULTING 415-319-4789 www.borne-consulting.com

FIRE ESCAPE INSPECTION & MAINTENANCE

ESCAPE ARTISTS

Ben Maxon 415-279-6113 www.sfescapeartists.com

GREAT ESCAPE SERVICES

Terry Walsh 415-566-1479 www.greatescapeservice.com

FIRE PROTECTION CONTRACTORS

AEC ALARMS

628-208-0188 SFfire@aec-alarms.com

BATTALION ONE FIRE PROTECTION

Tim Morse 510-653-8075 www.battaliononefire.com

COMMERCIAL FIRE PROTECTION, INC.

Laine Sims 925-300-9534 www.fireprotected.com

EMERGENCY SYSTEMS, INC.

Eric Hagerman 415-564-0400 esmfire@earthlink.net

PRIBUSS ENGINEERING, INC.

Selina Pribuss 650-588-0447 selina.p@pribuss.com www.pribuss.com

FLOORING

DECK & BALCONY INSPECTIONS, INC

Dan Cronk 916-548-6943 dan@deckandbalconyinspections.com

GARBAGE COLLECTION SERVICES

RECOLOGY GOLDEN GATE RECYCLING

Minna Tao 415-575-2423 recologysf.com

Lisa Isom 866-913-6293 www.arm-i.com

BARBARY INSURANCE BROKERAGE

Gerald Becerra 415-788-4700 www.barbaryinsurance.com

COMMERCIAL COVERAGE

INSURANCE AGENCY

Paul Tradelius 415-436-9800 www.comcov.com

GORDON ASSOCIATES INSURANCE SERVICES

Dave Gordon, CLU 650-654-5555x6972 David.gordon@gordoninsurance.com

INTERNET SERVICES PROVIDERS

COMCAST/XFINITY

Michael Juliano 925-495-9922 www.xfinity.com

LENDING / FINANCIAL SERVICES

FIRST FOUNDATION BANK

Michelle Li 415-794-2176 www.ff-inc.com

LENDING / FULL SERVICE BANKS

LUTHER BURBANK SAVINGS

Gabriel Basso 510-601-2400 www.lutherburbanksavings.com

LENDING / INSTITUTIONS

CHASE COMMERCIAL TERM LENDING

Sharon Groenendyk 415-315-8464 www.chase.com/commercialbanking

LOCKSMITHS

CROWN LOCK & HARDWARE

Joe Schoepp 415-221-9086

MAINTENANCE REPAIR SERVICE

GREENTREE MAINTENANCE

Yvonne Figueroa 415-854-9495 Figueroa@veritasinv.com

MAVEN MAINTENANCE, INC.

Craig Lipton 415-829-2207 www.mavenmaintenance.com

OGREENA

Christopher Sheilds 510-899-0238 jenniferbenassi@ogreena.com

PAINTING CONTRACTORS

KRUITPAINTING, INC.

Pieter Kruit 415-254-7818 www.kruitpainting.com

PAC WEST PAINTING INC.

Brian Beaulieu 415-457-0724 www.pacwestpaintinginc.com

PETERS PAINTING SERVICES

Peter Pantazelos 415-647-4722 www.peterspainting.com

TARA PRO PAINTING INC.

Brian Layden 415-822-2011 www.tarapropainting.com

PAINTING SUPPLIES

DUNN-EDWARDS PAINTS

Daniela Franco 415-656-9951 daniela.franco@dunnedwards.com

PEST CONTROL

ATCO PEST & TERMITE CONTROL & HOME RESTORATION

Richard Estrada 415-898-2282 www.atcopestcontrol.com

BANNER PEST SERVICES

Brad Erekson 650-678-2300 brad@bannerpc.com www.bannerpc.com

CROWN & SHIELD PEST SOLUTIONS-PREMIER

Aurora Garcia-Vidaca 415-893-9551 www.crownandshieldpestsolutions.com

PLUMBING & HEATING

C.R. REICHEL ENGINEERING CO. INC.

Tim Lordier 415-431-7100 www.crreichel.com

PRIBUSS ENGINEERING, INC.

Selina Pribuss 650-588-0447 selina.p@pribuss.com www.pribuss.com

R & L PLUMBING

Larry Bustillos 415- 651-4977 larry@rl.plumbing www.rlplumbingsanfrancisco.com

URGENT ROOTER AND PLUMBING INC.

Albert Lee 415-387-8163

urgentrtr@sbcglobal.net

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MELGAR REAL ESTATE SERVICES

Suzy Melgar 650-745-8186 info@mresbayareahomes.com

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

2B LIVING

Brooks Baskin 650-763-8552 brooks@twobliving.com www.twobliving.com

ABACUS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Timothy Cannon 415-841-2105 tim@sanfranrealestate.com www.abacuspropertymanagement.com

ADVENT PROPERTIES, INC.

Benjamin Scott, CCRM 510-289-1184 www.adventpropertiesinc.com

ALEXANDERSON PROPERTIES

Eric Alexanderson 415-285-3737 www.alexandersonproperties.com

AMORE REAL ESTATE, INC

Jerry Hsieh 415-567-4800 www.amoresf.com

ANCHOR REALTY

Mark Campana 415-621-2700 mark@anchorealtyinc.com www.anchorealtyinc.com

ARTAL PROPERTIES

John Artal 415-647-4400 artalproperties@gmail.com www.artalproperties.com

BARBAGELATA REAL ESTATE COMPANY

Paul Barbagelata 415-566-1112 paulb@realestatesf.com info@realestate.com

BAY PROPERTY GROUP

Anna Katz 510-836-0110 anna@baypropertygroup.com www.baypropertygroup.com

BAYVIEW PROPERTY MANAGERS

James Blanding 415-822-8793 xt.4 bayview60@comcast.net www.bayviewpropertymanagers.com

BEAM PROPERTIES, INC.

Darius Chan 415-254-8679 darius@sfbeam.com

BLVD RESIDENTIAL

Debbie Brackett 650-328-5050 dbrackett@blvdresidential.com www.blvdresidential.com

Property Management Members

The following members are SFAA Property Management Members. They fully support the organization and are dedicated to SFAA’s goals. For more information about the benefits of becoming a Property Management Member, contact Maria Shea at maria@sfaa.org or 415-255-2288 x 110.

ADVENT PROPERTIES, INC.

Benjamin Scott, CCRM 510-289-1184 www.adventpropertiesinc.com

AMSI

Robb Fleischer 415-447-2020 www.amsires.com

CECCHINI REALTY CO.

Dante Cecchini, CCRM 415-550-8855 www.cecchinirealty.com

CITYWIDE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Carol Cosgrove 415-552-7300 www.citywidesf.com

DEWOLF

William Talmage 415-221-2032 www.dewolfsf.com

GAETANI REAL ESTATE

Paul Gaetani 415-668-1202 www.gaetanirealestate.com

GREENTREE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 415-828-8757 www.greentreepmco.com

HRH REAL ESTATE SERVICES CORPORATION

Renee A. Engelen (415) 810-6020 www.hrhrealestate.com

J. WAVRO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

James Wavro 415-509-3456 www.jwavro.com

LINGSCH REALTY

Natalie M. Drees 415-648-1516 www.lingschrealty.com

PAUL LANGLEY COMPANY

Misha Langley 415-431-9104 x 301 misha@plco.net

PONTAR REAL ESTATE

Merri Pontar 415-421-2877 www.pontarrealestate.com

PROGRESSIVE PROPERTY GROUP

Dace Dislere & Joe Gillach 415-515-4329 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Michelle L. Horneff-Cohen 415-661-3860 www.propertymanagementsystems.net

REAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY

J.J. Panzer 415-821-3167 www.RMCsf.com

S&L REALTY

Robert Link 415-386-3111 www.slrealty-sf.com

STRUCTURE PROPERTIES

Corey Eckert 415-794-0064 www.structureproperties.com

SUTRO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, INC.

Salman Shariat 415-341-8774 www.sutroproperties.com

VERTEX PROPERTY GROUP

Craig Berendt 415-608-3050 vertexsf.com

WEST & PRASZKER REALTORS

Michael Klestoff 415-661-5300 www.wprealtors.com

WEST COAST PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Eric Andresen 415-885-6970 www.wcpm.com

VESTA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Paul Griffiths 415-994-3033 paul@vesta-assetmanagement.com

BROOKFIELD PROPERTY GROUPPRESIDIO LANDMARK

Jon King 855-327-5376

jon.king@brookfieldproperties.com

CITYWIDE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Carol Cosgrove 415-552-7300 www.citywidesf.com

DEWOLF REALTY CO. INC.

William A. Talmage 415-221-2032 www.dewolfsf.com

EBALDC

Felicia Scruggs 510-287-5353

FScruggs@ebaldc.org

GAETANI REAL ESTATE

Paul Gaetani 415-668-1202 www.gaetanirealestate.com

GEORGE GOODWIN REALTY, INC.

Chris Galassi 415-681-1265 www.goodwin-realty.com

GREENTREE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Scott Moore 415-828-8757 www.greentreepmco.com

GM GREEN REAL ESTATE INC.

George Green 415-608-6485 ggreen@gmgreen.com www.gmgreen.com

GORDON CLIFFORD PROPERTIES, INC.

Patrick Clifford 415-613-7694 patrick@gcpropertiessf.com

HOGAN & VEST INC.

Simon Wong 415-421-7116 hoganvest.com

HRH REAL ESTATE SERVICES CORPORATION

Renee A. Engelen 415-810-6020 www.hrhrealestate.com

INCOME PROPERTY SPECIALISTS

Clayton Llewellyn 408-446-0848 www.ipsmanagement.cc

JACKSON GROUP PROPERTY MANGEMENT, INC.

Raymond Scarabosio 415-608-8300 ray@jacksongroup.net

JAMES D. MULLIN REAL ESTATE BROKER

James D. Mullin 415-470-0450 jamesdmullinre@gmail.com

JD MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC.

Jonathan Davis 510-387-7792 jonathan.davis@jdmginc.com

LEGACY PTLA LLC

Brent Mustin 510-352-6310

LINGSCH REALTY

Natalie M. Dress 415-648-1516 www.lingschrealty.com

MERIDIAN MANAGEMENT GROUP

Randall Chapman 415-434-9700 www.mmgprop.com

MLCSPACES, INC.

Naeem Farhokhnia 415-273-9861 naeem@mlcspaces.com

MYND MANAGEMENT, INC.

Stacy Winship 510-306-4440 www.mynd.co

NEW GENERATION INVESTMENTS

Jonathan Ng 415-735-8233 jtng.ngi@gmail.com

OPEN WORLD PROPERTIES

Jonathan Daryl Fleming 510-250-0946 jonathan@openworldproperties.com www.Openworldproperties.Com

PAUL LANGLEY COMPANY

Misha Langley 415-431-9104 x 301 misha@plco.net

PILLAR CAPITAL REAL ESTATE

Jonathan Ng 415-885-9584 jonathan@thepillarcapital.com

PONTAR REAL ESTATE

Merri Pontar 415-421-2877 www.pontarrealestate.com

PRIME METROPOLIS PROPERTIES, INC.

Tom Chan 415-731-0303 tomchan@pmp1988.com

PROGRESSIVE PROPERTY GROUP

Dace Dislere 415-794-9727 www.progressivesf.com

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Michelle L. Horneff-Cohen, Broker, CCRM, MPM®, RMP® 415-661-3860 www.propertymanagementsystems.net

RAMSEY PROPERTIES

Brian E. Ramsey 415-474-5175 Brian@RamseyPropertiesSF.com

REAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY

J.J. Panzer 415-821-3167 www.RMCsf.com

ROCKAWAY RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT

Kristine Abbey 650-290-3084 www.rockawayresidential.com

ROCKWELL PROPERTIES

Mark Kaplan 415-398-2400 propertymanagement@rockwellproperties.com

RNB PROPERTY MANAGEMENTGOLDEN GATE

Kaveh Gorgani 415-413-3827 kaveh@rnbemail.com www.rnbgoldengate.com

SHAREVEST PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, LLC

Timothy D. Gilmartin 650-347-2020 tim@thegilmartins.com

SIGNATURE REALTY PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Paul Montalvo 650-364-3167 paul@paulmontalvo.com

SIERRA PROPERTY PROFESSIONALS

Sonali Herrera sierrappinc@gmail.com

SKYLINE PMG, INC.

Nicholas Bowers 415-968-9903 Nicholas@skylinepmg.com

STRUCTURE PROPERTIES

Corey Eckert 415-794-0064 www.structureproperties.com

SUTRO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, INC.

Salman Shariat 415-341-8774 www.SutroProperties.com

W. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Gary Petrison 707-545-6187 gary@wpropertymanagement.com

WEST COAST PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Eric Andresen 415-885-6970 www.wcpm.com

WEST & PRASZKER REALTORS

Michael Klestoff 415-699-3266 www.wprealtors.com

VERTEX PROPERTIESS

Craig Berendt 415-608-3050 craig.berendt@gmail.com

VESTA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Paul Griffiths 415-994-3033 paul@vesta-assetmanagement.com

YMPG

Yelena Gelzer 415-260-6325 yglezer@ympg-management.com

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

SOFTWARE

APPFOLIO

Mindy Sorenson 888-700-8299 mindy.sorenson@appfolio,com

HEMLANE, INC.

Dana Dunford 385-355-4361 dana@hemlane.com

PROPERTY ATLAS

Serina Calhoun 415-922-0200 serina@mypropertyatlas.com

YARDI

Kelly Krier 805-699-2040 kelly.krier@yardi.com

REAL ESTATE APPRAISALS

MARK WATTS COMMERCIAL APPRAISAL

Mark Watts 415-990-0025 www.markwattscommercialappraisal.com

REAL ESTATE BROKERS & AGENTS

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY FRANCISCAN PROPERTIES

Edward Milestone 415-994-5969 MilestoneRealEstateSF@gmail.com

BIG TREE PROPERTIES

Evan Matteo 415-305-4931 evan@bigtreeproperties.com

CHUCK & ASSOCIATES

Kevin Chuck 415-595-5832 chuckassoc@gmail.com

COLDWELL BANKER COMMERCIAL NRT

Steven Caravelli 415-229-1367 steven.caravelli@cbnorcal.com

COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL- JAMES DEVINCENTI

James Devincenti 415-288-7848 www.THEDLTEAM.com

COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL Payam Nejad 415-288-7872 www.colliers.com/payam.nejad

COMPASS

Tim Johnson 415-710-9000 tim.johnson@compass.com www.timjohnsonsf.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE

John Antonini 415-794-9510 john@antoninisf.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE

Chris J. Connor chris.oconnor@compass.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE

Adam Filly 415-516-9843

adam@adamfilly.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE

Jay Greenberg 415-378-6755 jay@jayhgreenberg.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL

Mirella Webb 415-640-4133 mirella.webb@compass.com

CORCORAN GLOBAL LIVING COMMERCIAL

Terrence Jones 415-786-2216 terrence@terrencejonesSF.com www.terrencejones.com

FERRIGNO REAL ESTATE

Chris Ferrigno 415-641-0661 www.ferrignorealestate.com

HRH REAL ESTATE SERVICES CORPORATION

Renee A. Engelen 415-810-6020 www.hrhrealestate.com

ICON REAL ESTATE INC.

Jason Quashnofsky 415-370-7077 jason@iconsf.com

KENNEY & EVEREST REAL ESTATE, INC.

Everest Mwamba 415-902-3411 maureen@kenneyrealestate.com

KILBY STENKAMP-VANGUARD PROPERTIES

Kilby Stenkamp 415-370-7582

LESLIE BURNLEY

Leslie Burnley 415-717-8709 leslie.j.burnley@gmail.com leslieburnley.com

MARCUS & MILLICHAP

Sanford Skeie 415-625-2153 www.marcusmillichap.com

MAVEN PROPERTIES

Matthew Sheridan matt@mavenproperties.com

MORGAN REAL ESTATE ADVISORS, INC.

Laurence Morgan 415-300-6503 laurence@morganrealestateadvisor.com www.morganrealestateadvisor.com

S&L REALTY

Robert Link 415-386-3111 www.slrealty-sf.com

STEELE PROPERTIES

Ryan Steele 415-881-7762 ryan@steeleproperties.com www.steeleproperties.com

WEST & PRASZKER REALTORS

Michael Klestoff 415-312-2245 klestoffmre@aol.com

VANGUARD COMMERCIAL

Allison Chapleau 415-516-0648 allison@allisonchapleau.com www.allisonchapleau.com

VANGUARD PROPERTIES

Dimitris Drolapas 415-531-9659 dd@vanguardsf.com

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS

CITY REAL ESTATE

Arthur Tom 415-987-6788 art@cityrealestatesf.com cityrealestatesf.com

COMPASS COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE

Trigg Splenda 415-593-8616

sfaa sfaa 2023 membership application

KENNEY & EVEREST REAL ESTATE, INC.

Everest Mwamba 415-902-3411

maureen@kenneyrealestate.com

MARCUS MILLICHAP

Clinton C. Textor III 415-425-9123

www.marcusmillichap.com

REFINISHING / RESURFACING SERVICE

Thank you for joining the San Francisco Apartment Association. SFAA is dedicated to educating, advocating for and supporting the Rental Housing Community so that its members operate ethically, fairly and profitably. Please consult a tax preparer in advance to determine deductibility for your tax situation. Membership fees are subject to change.

San Francisco Apartment Association

MIRACLE METHOD OF SAN FRANCISCO NORTH

Jamie Munoz 415-673-4211

MiracleMethodSFO@gmail.com

www.miraclemethod.com/San-Francisco

RENT BOARD PETITIONS

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Michelle L. Horneff-Cohen 415-661-3860

www.propertymanagementsystems.net

RENT RAISERS

Michelle Horneff-Cohen michelle@propertymanagementsystems.net

REAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY

Melinda Greene 415-230-8895

www.RMCsf.com

RENT BOARD PASSTHROUGHS

Kim Boyd Bermingham 415-333-8005 www.rentboardpass.com

RENTAL LISTING SERVICES

COSTAR

Aj Herlitz 844-459-1495 www.costargroup.com aherlitz@costar.com

HRH REAL ESTATE SERVICES CORPORATION

Renee A. Engelen 415-810-6020 www.hrhrealestate.com

REALPAGE

Stacey Blackwell 972-820-3015 stacey.blackwell@realpage.com www.realpage.com

ZUMPER, INC.

Connor Hodges 949-702-1508 connor@zumper.com www.zumper.com

RESIDENTIAL LEASING

GORDON CLIFFORD PROPERTIES, INC. PatrickClifford 415-613-7694 patrick@gcpropertiessf.com

HAMILTON FAMILY CENTER Mayo Lunt 510-763-8540 x230 www.hamiltonfamiles.org

HRH REAL ESTATE SERVICES CORPORATION

Renee A. Engelen 415-810-6020 www.hrhrealestate.com

J. WAVRO ASSOCIATES

James Wavro 415-509-3456 www.jwavro.com

KENNEY AND EVEREST REAL ESTATE, INC.

Maureen Kenney 415-929-0717 maureen@kenneyrealestate.com

LINGSCH REALTY

Natalie M. Drees 415-648-1516 www.lingschrealty.com

RELISTO

Eric Baird 415-236-6116, x101 www.relisto.com eric@relisto.com

RENTALS IN S.F.

Jackie Tom 415-409-3263 www.rentalsinsf.com

RENTSFNOW

Stephanie Versin sversin@veritasinv.com www.rentsfnow.com

STRUCTURE PROPERTIES

Corey Eckert 415-794-0064 www.structureproperties.com

VERTEX PROPERTIES

Craig Berendt 415-608-3050 www.berendtproperties.com

ZUMPER, INC

Connor Hodges 949-702-1508 connor@zumper.com www.zumper.com

ROOFING

AGUILERA CONSTRUCTION & ROOFING

Javier Aguilera 707-495-3932 javier@aguileraco.com

SECURITY

KASTLE SYSTEMS

Michael Madisan 415-828-2157 mike.madisan@kastle.com

SECURITY DEPOSITS

THE GUARANTORS

Alexandra Nazaire 212-266-0020 alexandra.nazaire@theguarantors.com www.theguarantors.com

SEISMIC RETROFIT & STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

BAI CONSTRUCTION

Behnam Afshar 510-595-1994, x101 www.baiconstruction.com

W. CHARLES PERRY

Charles Perry 650-638-9546 www.wcharlesperry.com

WEST COAST PREMIER CONSTRUCTION, INC.

Homy Sikaroudi, PhD, PE 510-271-0950 www.wcpc-inc.com

STAFFING

BG MULTI-FAMILY

Shannon Valentino 714-654-9498 svalentino@bgmultifamily.com

SUBMETERS

LIVABLE

Daniel Sharabi 415-937-7283 www.livable.com

TENANT PLACEMENT & LISTING

CAZERIA, INC

Julia D’Antonio 415-754-5373 julia@cazeira.com

STRUCTURE PROPERTIES

Corey Eckert 415-794-0064 www.structureproperties.com

WATER CONSERVATION SERVICE

SF PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

Chandra Johnson 415-554-0704 www.conserve.sfwater.org

WATER DAMAGE SERVICE

FIRE AND WATER DAMAGE RECOVERY

Maria Neumann 800-886-1801 www.waterdamagerecovery.net

Please note that acceptance of associate membership does not necessarily constitute any endorsement or recommendation,

Of course, there are people who murder and rape, people who do terrible things, who demonstrate they will never change, and we have to handle those cases a certain way. But for most of our offenders, it’s figuring out how to communicate that their conduct is not okay, while providing tools so they don’t simply cycle back to us.

For me, social justice means making sure our attorneys are connected to community-based organizations and treatment programs that allow us to route people into those programs responsibly. Where we have court oversight and supervision to ensure that people are following through with their programs.

Right now, I’m working to responsively and safely move the ball on alternatives to incarceration. So offenders have a chance to move their lives forward because we want to stop the cycle. The way we help San Francisco is to stop that criminal cycle. If we just keep penalizing somebody, putting them back out, or even if we keep them sitting for six months and put them back out with no tools to succeed, they’re just going to commit another crime and come back.

Pam McElroy: How can San Francisco residents help you with your efforts and plans for the city?

DA Jenkins: I hope residents continue to set up meetings with me. Hearing about the challenges in each neighborhood helps me prioritize. It informs me when there aren’t enough police in a certain area, or when there’s a recurring issue.

When community members engage with us through community-related meetings, government officials understand what the community wants and needs.

Our city will never be pro-law enforcement. I understand that. But people are realizing that we serve a very important function in this city, and that function requires investment. We can no longer say we expect safety, but then not invest in the agencies and services that provide it.

For far too long, my office has been overlooked with respect to funding. We’re struggling to get three additional lawyers to work on narcotics. We need the community to vote and voice to their representatives that safety is a priority.

Pam McElroy: It’s clear you’re passionate about your work! What led you down this career path?

DA Jenkins: It’s a personal story, actually. I never planned on being a prosecutor; it never crossed my mind when I was entering law school, or even when I graduated from law school. I ended up going into corporate law and going through the motions for many years—until the death of my firstborn

child, which, as you can imagine, changed everything. I had to figure out what my purpose was going to be every day. I thought it was being a mother, but I had to quickly accept that that was not the case at the time. I wanted something that got me out of bed every day, to connect with people when it was easy to withdraw.

I had met two Black prosecutors in another county before this tragedy happened. They seemed to love what they were doing, to feel like they were making a big impact. And that had planted a seed.

After the death of my son, I thought I could be an advocate for parents who have had to bury their children. Knowing I understood their pain. I volunteered first, and I knew very quickly that it was more than just a job for me. It became a passion. That’s how I got into this work.

Pam McElroy: If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about the city, without any roadblocks, what would it be?

DA Jenkins: For the city to invest more in the DA’s office, on preventing crimes from happening in the first place. There are so many things we want to do but lack the resources—both on a prosecution side and having people who can do community work.

We need to focus on intervention and prevention in addition to prosecution. It requires community involvement and investment, especially in our youth and transitional-age-youth population. The resources are limited, and when I look at other counties, that’s not the case.

I would remove hurdles to having more attorneys, for internship programs to bring young people into this office, to learn about opportunities to rise beyond their circumstance and become the district attorney, become something that they never thought about.

Pam McElroy: Is there anything you’d like to communicate to members of the San Francisco Apartment Association?

DA Jenkins: Our economy depends on public safety—I don’t think many people recognized that connection before now. At the very least, they didn’t acknowledge it publicly.

I recognize that connection. Every day, I seek to improve our streets so our economy can thrive, and that means people buying homes, people moving here and renting apartments. It means tourism returning so that our businesses succeed.

People want to move to San Francisco because it is a great city. But no one wants to come if every perception and every reality

SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF’S OFFICE Q&A

SF APARTMENT MAGAZINE: What are the priorities of the Sheriff’s department?

SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF’S OFFICE: The priorities of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office (SFSO) are best summarized in our strategic plan, which guides our year-to-year goals and tracks the progress of our office:

• Protect San Francisco

• Engage San Francisco

• Improve organizational accountability

• Modernize technology

• Enrich training

• Maximize workforce potential

SFAM: Can you tell us about staffing difficulties at the department? How are staffing shortages impacting your work?

SFSO: Staffing continues to be a struggle for the department. We are currently operating far below our authorized staffing limits. This drastically affects our work, requiring mandatory overtime for many employees to meet SFSO staffing minimums. Additionally, many programs have been suspended or are operating under reduced schedules. SFSO is working hard to remedy this using digital advertising, job fairs, and community engagement to expand our applicant pool.

Over the last year, we began making strides in hiring for these positions, and we will continue through 2023. If you or anyone you know are interested in joining the SFSO as a deputy, please check out our website at: sfsheriff.com > Join Our Team.

SFAM: What is the Sheriff’s department’s role in San Francisco? What does the department oversee?

SFSO: The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office has four different divisions. Our public safety mission in law enforcement extends into the below areas.

SFSO oversees our county jails. Anyone incarcerated in the City and County of San Francisco falls under the custody and care of the SFSO.

A large portion of our responsibilities is our in-andout-of-custody programs. Our most extensive out-ofcustody program is the Pre-Trial Electronic Monitoring (PTEM), but we have a long list of additional programs, like the No Violence Alliance, which provides case management services to promote independence and

quality of life by coordinating appropriate services with constant and on-going support as needed by the client.

You can learn more about our in-and-out-of-custody programs on our website: sfsheriff.com > Programs and Events > All Programs.

SFSO also serves local warrants, provides law enforcement services for public buildings and courts, and oversees ballot collection to ensure we have safe and secure elections.

Finally, our Civil Unit provides the following services:

• General process (personal/substitute service)

• Summons and petitions

• Wage garnishments

• General process (personal/substitute service)

• Summons and petitions

• Wage garnishments

• Bank levies

• Third-party levies

• Civil bench warrants

• Restraining orders

• Notice of hearings

• Out-of-state summons

• Small claims

• Evictions

SFAM: Are there updates or recent changes to how the department handles evictions?

SFSO: The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office Civil Section serves civil processes in the manner prescribed by law and performs civil enforcement duties with integrity and without prejudice or bias in accordance with local, state, and federal laws and statutes.

SFAM: How has the apartment recovery process changed since COVID? What is the process now?

SFSO: SFSO’s role in civil enforcement continues as that of a neutral party, acting only on a lawful court order. Our administrative process has not changed and is governed by the California Code of Civil Procedure. Most procedures and laws governing the service and execution of civil process are outlined in said code.

is that they are not safe. Our priority is to make sure that people are safe and that our economy can thrive.

Pam McElroy: What’s your favorite way to spend a day off in San Francisco?

DA Jenkins: Any moment I have to spend with my children, particularly on the weekends, we love to get out. My daughter usually has a soccer or basketball game. Afterward, we’ll find a restaurant or somewhere to get ice cream.

We like to eat at taquerias in the Mission. My kids and I—not so much dad—like to shop in Union Square. One of our favorite things to do is go down there and find toys at a little toy shop.

We live in Mission Bay, and I love how walkable the neighborhood is. I like going to the food trucks or walking to Chase Center or to a park. I really love our neighborhood.

Legal Questions

Confused about local and statewide rental housing laws? Take advantage of SFAA’s legal information network. Before every SFAA General Membership Meeting, a diverse panel of San Francisco landlord attorneys answers your questions about your property, your tenants and the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. SFAA monthly meetings and legal panels are a benefit just for members, so make sure you are getting the most out of your membership and be sure to attend the next meeting. Email Maria with questions for the panel: maria@sfaa.org

Pam McElroy is the editor of SF Apartment Magazine.

SFAA Landlord Expo

Come join SFAA and local rental property owners for a free educational event covering all things multifamily housing. Hear from the Department of Building Inspection, the San Francisco Fire Department, and the San Francisco Rent Board. The event will end with a Member Appreciation happy hour where you can chat with vendors. The event will take place on May 18, 2023, at the Fort Mason Center. Turn to page 39 for more details, or visit sfaa.org

SFAA Updates

Members are welcome to make an appointment to visit SFAA office with questions. However, please refrain from coming in person if you have tested positive for, were exposed to, or have symptoms of COVID-19.

The best way to have your questions answered is through email: MemberQuestions@sfaa.org. And just a friendly reminder: timely payment of membership dues is the best way to help the association help you.

Annual 2023-2024 Rent Increase

For rent-controlled units, annual allowable increase amount effective March 1, 2023, through February 29, 2024, is 3.6%. This amount is based on 60% of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in the Bay Area, which was 6% as posted in November 2022 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To calculate the dollar amount of the 3.6% annual rent increase, multiply the tenant’s base rent by .036. For example, if the tenant’s base rent is $2,000.00, the annual increase would be calculated as follows: $2,000.00 x .036 = $72.00. The tenant’s new base rent would. be $2,072.00 ($2,000.00 + $72.00).

To learn more about the San Francisco Rent Board, call 415-252-4602 or go to sfrb.org.

sfaa rental forms

2023 Spring CCRM Webinar Series Schedule &

Upon registration the Zoom link will be emailed to the student Class is every Tuesday

To Register Online: www.sfaa.org Call: 415-255-2288 x.110 Email: maria@sfaa.org

Local Association ID Number:

Information: o Credit Card o Mailing Check o Series Invoicing (members only benefit)

Credit card number: Exp. Date Signature: Name printed:

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations must be made 72 hours in advance for a refund SFAA does not provide refunds for No-Shows. Non-members must pay by credit card only!!!

*Students requesting CalBRE Continuing Education Credits must show picture ID, immediately before admittance to the live offering.

CCRM Certification Renewal Policy: In order to keep the certification active, CCRMs must complete twelve hours of continuing education credits & submit a renewal application along with a renewal fee every other year (2 hours of these credits must be in Fair Housing)

What You Need to Know

sfaa sfaa 2023

lives on site, or to a tenant who is looking for a roommate.

Credit Reports

SB 267 by Senator Susan Eggman (DStockton) would limit a landlord’s use of credit reports when screening prospective tenants with Section 8 housing vouchers or other government rent subsidies.

The bill would only allow the use of credit reports when a voucher or other government rent subsidy is present if the landlord offers the applicant a chance to show other evidence of their ability to pay the rent. If the applicant does so, the landlord would have to consider that evidence in lieu of the applicant’s credit history in deciding whether to proceed with the tenancy.

Last year, a nearly identical bill by Eggman died in the Assembly Housing Committee amid opposition from the California Apartment Association.

Security Deposits

UPCOMING CLASSES

Monthly SFAA member meetings and classes are held virtually and in-person. For member meeting topics and schedules, go to www.sfaa.org. For a list of virtual SFAA classes, turn to the calendar on page 44.

SFAA OFFICE CLOSURE

As the SFAA continues a hybrid in-office work model, members are welcome to make an appointment. However, please refrain from coming in person if you have tested positive for, were exposed to, or have symptoms of COVID-19. The best way to have your questions answered is through email at MemberQuestions@sfaa.org.

AB 12 from Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) would further limit the amount of money a landlord can collect for a security deposit in California. AB 12 would cap security deposits at an amount equal to one month’s rent for all types of housing.

At present, an owner can collect an amount equal to two months’ rent for an unfurnished unit, and three months’ rent for a furnished unit.

The California Apartment Association has expressed serious concerns with the bill, which comes on the heels of a pandemic that forced countless rental housing owners to provide housing without compensation.

Today, when tenants don’t fulfill their obligations, even the current caps on security deposits don’t cover the owner’s costs. Security deposits are even more important these days, as recently passed California laws have restricted what a

property owner can see when reviewing a prospective tenant’s credit history. This forces owners to enter rental agreements with fewer assurances that the rent will be paid.

Screening Fees

Amid opposition from the California Apartment Association, a State Assemblymember has withdrawn a pair of bills that together would have placed new limits on tenant screening fees and required that landlords provide further notice before raising rents.

AB 485 by Assemblymember Laurie Davies (R-Dana Point) would have changed California’s tenant-screening law by capping the fee a rental property owner can collect from a tenant-applicant at $40. Moreover, it would have eliminated annual adjustments based on inflation.

In 1996, CAA sponsored California’s tenant screening law, which standardized the cost of screening fees. The law initially capped the screening fee at $30 for each applicant, although that fee has increased annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. Today, the cap is $55.58; however, a rental property owner may not charge more than the cost of the consumer credit report and the owner’s time to validate, review, or otherwise process an application.

The other bill shelved by Davies, AB 500, would have required property owners to provide tenants with at least 90 days’ notice before raising the rent, regardless of the amount. At present, landlords must provide 30 days’ notice for rent increases of 10% or less, and 90 days’ notice for increases above 10%.

For more information about these bills and other bills introduced by the California legislature, go to CAA’s website at www.caanet.org

Ways to Connect.

Debra L. Carlton is the Executive Vice President of State Public Affairs at the California Apartment Association.

NERT

NEIGHBORHOOD EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (NERT)

Get prepared and be involved. NERT is a communitybased training program that takes a neighbor-helping-neighbor approach, creating lifelines between families, neighbors, and San Francisco’s emergency responders.

NERT is a free training program for individuals, neighborhood groups, and community-based organizations in San Francisco. Individuals learn the basics of personal preparedness and prevention. Participants learn hands-on disaster skills that will help them as members of an emergency response team and/or as a leader directing untrained volunteers during an emergency, allowing them to act independently or as an adjunct to City emergency services.

Enrollment is easy! Want to host a NERT training in your San Francisco building or neighborhood? Classes will be scheduled based on program need and location. To request a class, you must have thirty sign-ups and an ADA compliant space able to accommodate at least eighty people.

Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) (415) 970-2022

SFFDNERT@sfgov.org

NERT Class Sign-Up Hotline (415) 970-2024

Check Out What’s New at SFAA!

The San Francisco Apartment Association is your rental housing resource. SFAA has been working round-the-clock educating, advocating for, and supporting the rental housing community so that its members operate ethically and fairly.

1. SFAA’s New and Improved Website Is Live!

Our new website makes it easier than ever to access the information, market surveys, education, and forms you need to manage your rental properties. The streamlined website allows SFAA members to quickly sign up for classes, access preferred vendors, and get legislative updates. Go to sfaa.org today!

2. SF Apartment Magazine is Now Available Digitally!

The official publication of SFAA, SF Apartment Magazine reaches approximately 6,000 readers in print each month. Now that the publication is accessible digitally, members can access the invaluable content from anywhere—and advertisers have an even broader reach. Go to sfaa.org/magazine today!

Interested in advertising?

Your ad will appear in the feature-length magazine, alongside articles written by San Francisco’s top landlord attorneys, industry professionals, and small rental property owners. With a readership of rental property owners and industry professionals, your ad will reach the right targeted audience to grow your business.

TO MOST PEOPLE, THIS IS JUST A TYPICAL MIDCENTURY MODERN

TO YOU, IT’S YOUR THREE KIDS’ COLLEGE EDUCATION.

We know the properties we manage mean more to owners like you than meets the eye. That’s why, for over 70 years and across three generations of our family, we’ve taken the long view -- building great working relationships as we build value. Because when it comes to taking care of your investment, we definitely see eye-to-eye.