All Forum Posts by: Susan O.

Hi Tom,

Welcome to BP. I use to run a SF meetup but @J. Martin found an excellent space in downtown SF so I leave that up to him while I continue one down in Milpitas. Lots of great meetups can be found at meetup.com and mines is in my signature link below.

@Russell Brazil I rent to section 8 but I do not think it is at all appropriate for the government to require it.

Many landlords feel the extra work required to deal with section 8 is not worth it. They should not be required to make a bad business decision because of some perceived unfair discrimination.

This law is incredibly and deliberately deceptive. Everyone in the legislature and in the industry knows this is about whether a landlord accepts section 8 or not. Yet the legislature is not honest enough to say that outright.

@Account Closed 

Really, you believe that? This is part of fair housing law. People go to jail over fair housing violations. Fair housing law has a history of being applied in a totally radical ways that are not in the law. A great example of that is the dept of housing saying that you cannot discriminate on the basis that a person is a felon.

The bill is scheduled for a March 15 hearing in the committee, now with 5 co-sponsors. If you haven't already, click the link above to contact your legislator and tell them NO. If you have time, try to contact at least 1 of the following bill co-sponsors and tell them you DON'T agree:

Rep. Will Guzzardi

If the tenant agrees to a payment and agreement to vacate their unit you can charge whatever you want on the re lease.  If you are talking about Ellis Act or moving in as an owner then that would not apply as there are additional rules regarding that.

I know several people that buy out tenants, renovate the units and re lease at market rates in LA.  It is done all the time.

I agree, these tenant activist movements could spell real trouble, especially for small California landlords! All CA landlords should seek out and join their local landlord advocacy associations. In San Francisco there is SPOSFI, which is only $75/year and includes a very good monthly newsletter. These groups help organize opposition to local and state legislation unfriendly to property owners. 

Right now there is an effort to overturn Costa-Hawkins at the state level. This important ruling basically outlawed rent control on SFHs and condos, as well as new construction (bldgs after 1979 in SF, other years in other cities) as well as vacancy control (meaning that you can't raise the rent to market EVEN AFTER a tenant vacates- permanent low rent- a total disaster!)  Although I am hearing that this probably won't pass, if it does we are royally screwed!

Keep in mind that tenant activists go wild when rents sky rocket, which has led to all these new initiatives. A recession, while bad for landlords in general, at least has the side effect of quelling the activists!  (Hard to justify politically when vacancies are up, and rents are down.)  So, at least there is that to look forward to...sort of ;)

Thanks for keeping us updated @Ken Rishel. I know rent control is a big issue in coastal states especially CA.