Many San Francisco property owners are rightfully concerned when City agencies contact them about potential violations at their property. The enforcement process is confusing, and many enforcement notices threaten monetary penalties (or worse). Enforcement actions are...
Real Estate Law
The Time to Permit Your “Intermediate Length Occupancy” Unit is Now
With relatively little fanfare, two years ago the Board of Supervisors adopted strict new rules to regulate ‘Intermediate Length Occupancy’ (ILO) units. An ILO unit is defined as a dwelling unit that is rented for more than 30 days but less than one year. Tapping...
Why Are “Unlawful Detainers” Summary Proceedings?
“Eviction” is a civil remedy to restore real property to a person with the actual right of possession. “Unlawful detainers” are a unique type of civil lawsuit, which take their name from a set of statutes – called the “unlawful detainer statues” – which California...
AB 2179 – So What Now?
No doubt the last two years of moratoriums, eviction rules, required disclosures, declarations of Covid-19 related financial distress, and applications for rental assistance have our heads spinning. As a result, we find ourselves wondering when will the old way of...
Unreasonable HOA Board: You Can Act and Cause the Entire Board of Directors to be Removed
Who hasn’t heard a horror story concerning an HOA Board of Directors abusing its powers? If you are facing a similar situation, don’t panic; the law addresses this issue and allows homeowners to remove an entire Board of Directors. Introduction A Homeowners’...
ZFP’s Clients Obtain Court-Ordered Stay of San Francisco’s New 10-Day Notice Law
For over 100 years in California, when tenants fail to timely pay rent or otherwise breach lease obligations, landlords have been entitled to bring legal actions for possession of rental units (an “unlawful detainer”), after first serving tenants with a three-day...
Did Senate Bill 8 impact the definition of “housing development project” under the Housing Accountability Act?
The California Legislature passed Senate Bill 8 (“SB 8”) in 2021, which was intended to add further protections to California’s Planning and Zoning laws to increase the supply of housing. While SB 8 accomplished that by clarifying and strengthening various provisions...
Three Things Landlords Should Know About Habitability
A decision by the California Supreme Court in 1974 established that all rental agreements in the state include an implied warranty of habitability. This implied warranty binds anyone who rents or leases their property, regardless the explicit language within any...
Does the Housing Accountability Act Apply to My Project? ZFP’s Clients Test the Law’s Boundaries.
California’s Housing Accountability Act (Government Code section 65589.5) requires local governments to approve code-compliant housing development projects. If a city denies a housing development project without making specific findings of an unmitigable “public...
The San Francisco Owner Move-In Eviction
In general, virtually all San Francisco residential tenants enjoy eviction controls. This means that even though a tenant's lease has expired, a landlord still may only evict a tenant for one of the sixteen reasons provided for in the San Francisco Rent Ordinance. New...
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