Effective 11/2/13, the Rent Ordinance was amended to add Sections 37.7(i) and (j) to provide new standards and procedures for tenants seeking relief from capital improvement passthroughs due to financial hardship. (A copy of the Ordinance Amendments is attached for your reference.)
Under the new capital improvement passthrough (CIP) tenant hardship provisions, there are 3 ways for a tenant to qualify for hardship relief from a capital improvement passthrough:
(1) All adults in the household receive means-tested public assistance, such as SSI, GA, PAES or CalWORKS; OR
(2)
(a) The monthly rent for the unit is greater than 33% of the tenant's monthly grosshousehold income; and
(b) The tenant's total household assets, excluding retirement accounts and non-liquid assets such as real property and cars, do not exceed $60,000; and
(c) The tenant's monthly gross household income (before taxes) is less than 80% of the area's Adjusted Median Income. (As of 1/1/13, 80% of the AMI is $4,725 for 1-person household, $5,396 for 2-person household, $6,075 for 3-person household, $6,746 for 4-person household, etc.); OR
(3) The tenant has exceptional circumstances that make payment of the capital improvement passthrough a hardship, such as excessive medical bills.
The new Tenant Capital Improvement Passthrough (“CIP”) Hardship Application may be filed with the Rent Board at any time after the tenant has received a notice of rent increase for a capital improvement passthrough or after a decision is issued. The CIP Hardship Application is available on the Rent Board's website at www.sfrb.org or at our office located at 25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 320, in San Francisco. As a consequence of the new legislation, tenants for whom payment of a capital improvement passthrough is a financial hardship should not file a hardship appeal of a capital improvement decision, but should instead file the new CIP Hardship Application.
Ordinance No. 203-13
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Rules and Regulations §12.19 Amended, Effective 9/17/13
The Rent Board Commission amended Rules and Regulations Section 12.19 effective September 17, 2013 to state how landlords must notify tenants who were displaced by fire or other disaster that the unit is ready for re-occupancy. Pursuant to the amendment, the landlord must send the offer for re-occupancy to the address provided by the tenant. If the tenant has not provided an address, the offer must be sent to the unit from which the tenant was displaced and to any other known addresses of the tenant, including email addresses. In addition, Section 12.19(c) was amended to require landlords who seek to pass through capital improvement costs for repairing damage caused by fire or other disaster to serve a notice of rent increase on the tenants in accordance with California Civil Code Section 827.
The following paragraphs constitute the full text of Rules and Regulations Section 12.19, as amended effective September 17, 2013:
Section 12.19 Other Displacements
(a) If a tenant is forced to vacate her/his unit due to fire or other disaster, the landlord shall, within 30 days of completion of repairs to the unit, offer the same unit to that tenant under the same terms and conditions as existed prior to her/his displacement. The landlord’s offer shall be sent to the address provided by the tenant. If the tenant has not provided an address, the offer shall be sent to the unit from which the tenant was displaced and to any other address of the tenant of which the landlord has actual knowledge, including electronic mail (e-mail) addresses.
(b) The tenant shall have 30 days from receipt of the landlord's offer to notify the landlord of acceptance or rejection of the offer and, if accepted, shall reoccupy the unit within 45 days of receipt of the landlord's offer.
(c) However, the cost of capital improvements which are necessary before rerenting a unit which was damaged or destroyed as set forth in subsection (a) above, which cost was not reimbursed by insurance proceeds or by any other means (such as a satisfied judgment) may be passed through to the tenant by utilization of the capital improvement petition process as set forth in Part 7 above. Any rent increase under this section would require that a notice be served upon the tenant(s) pursuant to Civil Code Section 827.
(d) The landlord who attempts to rerent a unit, but refuses to allow a tenant to return to her/his home under this section shall have wrongfully endeavored to recover or wrongfully recovered said tenant's rental unit in violation of Section 37.9 of the Ordinance and shall be liable to the displaced tenants for actual and punitive damages as provided by Ordinance Section 37.9(f). This remedy shall be in addition to any other remedy available to the tenant under the Rent Ordinance.
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New State Law Limits Relocation Payments for Temporary Displacement of Tenants for Less Than 20 Days
Civil Code Section 1947.9, effective January 1, 2013, specifies the amount of relocation benefits that landlords must pay tenants for temporary evictions for less than 20 days. The amount of relocation payments due to a tenant household In such circumstances is therefore governed by Civil Code Section 1947.9 and not by Rent Ordinance Section 37.9C or the provisions concerning temporary evictions to do capital improvement work or lead remediation work pursuant to Ordinance Sections 37.9(a)(11) or 37.9(a)(14).
Civil Code Section 1947.9(a)(1) provides as follows for San Francisco rental units that are subject to the Rent Ordinance:
Levels of compensation for the temporary displacement of a tenant household for less than 20 days shall be limited to both of the following:
(A) Temporary housing and living expenses, of $275.00 per day per tenant household. This limit may be adjusted annually by the city and county in an amount equal to the Consumer Price Index, beginning on January 1, 2014.
(B) Actual moving expenses if it is necessary to move the possessions of the tenant household.
Civil Code Section 1947.9 also gives landlords the option of providing the displaced tenant household with a comparable unit plus actual moving expenses for short-term displacements of less than 20 days, instead of paying the specified relocation benefits. The temporary unit must be comparable to the tenant household's existing housing in location, size, number of bedrooms, accessibility, type, and quality of construction, and proximity to services and institutions upon which the displaced tenant household depends.
Civil Code Section 1947.9 only affects the amount of relocation payments owed to a tenant household temporarily displaced for less than 20 days, and does not otherwise affect the terms of the tenancy or the applicability of the Rent Ordinance. Thus, the tenant is obligated to pay rent during the short-term displacement, and the landlord remains subject to the eviction controls and other requirements of the Rent Ordinance.
The text of Civil Code Section 1947.9 can be found at the following link:
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1947.9.&lawCode=CIV
