3 new S.F. rent laws in the works TENANT LAWS Daly proposes new limits on increases by landlords

Supervisor Chris Daly Supervisor Chris Daly Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice, The Chronicle Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 3 new S.F. rent laws in the works 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A San Francisco supervisor is proposing laws intended to keep renters from being priced out of their homes during tough economic times.

Three laws proposed by Supervisor Chris Daly on Tuesday would bar landlords from increasing rent to more than one-third of a tenant's income, would expand the rights of tenants who want to add roommates, and would limit the amount of so-called banked rent increases in which annual increases allowed under city laws are saved up and then imposed all at once.

The laws would apply only to rent increases and would not help people who cannot afford their current rent.

The proposals immediately drew praise from tenants groups, who said rents have stayed high in San Francisco even as they have dropped elsewhere. It was slammed by landlords, who argued that property owners already are struggling with a soft rental market and high vacancy rates.

Daly and tenants advocates said that nearly two-thirds of San Franciscans are renters, and that as the federal government steps in to provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure, governments also should help renters stay in their homes, particularly in a notoriously expensive city.

While the city already imposes strict rent controls on most buildings, the law also allows for incremental annual increases.

"So many tenants are already living on the edge in terms of their housing being even remotely affordable. They are paying 70, 80 percent of their income already," said Sara Shortt, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. "In many cases, if the rent keeps getting higher and higher and at the same time tenants lose their job or are furloughed, then they are going to be forced to leave their homes."

But Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartments Association, said she was "shocked" by the proposals, which she sees as legally tenuous. New said her members are finding it increasingly difficult to make money and keep tenants. She also encouraged tenants to individually renegotiate their leases or ask landlords for payment plans if they cannot afford to pay their rent, noting that many of her members already are working out such deals.

"You can't impose public policy on private owners. ... Shouldn't there be some public subsidy?" she said. "This is the worst rental market I've seen in 20 years. This isn't a market where people want to lose a tenant. I don't understand the premise."

Some tenants said renegotiating their lease is not an option. One 60-year-old Western Addition tenant said she could be forced to move in April, when her landlord plans to raise the rent by about $60. It doesn't sound like much, but the tenant, who was forced to leave her job three years ago because of a back injury, brings in just $800 a month in income - and her rent would top $1,000 come April.

"I've been in San Francisco for well over 20 years, and I worked for more than 30 years - it was a freak accident that devastated me. I feel like the rug was pulled out from under me," said the woman, who did not want her name used because she is in a legal battle with her landlord. "I'm trying to figure out what I am going to do."

Daly's proposals would change existing rental laws in a city already seen as extremely tenant-friendly. One proposal would allow a tenant to file a "financial hardship" claim to the Rent Board's administrative law judge if rent is being increased to more than 33 percent of the tenant's gross income. If the claim is granted, the increase would not go into effect until it no longer caused financial hardship to the tenant or until it could be proved that the decision was causing greater hardship to the landlord than to the renter.

Another law would allow renters to add roommates - even if their lease prohibited it - without the landlord increasing the rent. The number of people living in a unit, however, could not exceed certain numbers: two people in a studio and four people in a two-bedroom unit, for example. Currently, additional roommates have to be approved by landlords unless they are family members.

The third law would limit the total amount of rent increases every year to 8 percent of the tenant's base rent. Advocates said it is common to see banked rent increases when a property changes hands and the new owner realizes he or she is entitled to a number of years' worth of increases.

It's not yet clear whether the proposed laws will have sufficient support at the Board of Supervisors, but Mayor Gavin Newsom - who advocates had expected to oppose the measures - appeared open to the ideas.

"Renters deserve relief, too, and these are interesting ideas that are worth looking at," Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said. "But some of the ideas seem a little far-fetched."