San Francisco Just Causes for Eviction

As San Francisco eviction attorneys with over 100 years of combined experience, Steven Adaire MacDonald & Partners knows there are two sides to every story. Under the San Francisco Rent Ordinance, there 16 just causes for eviction. We’re here to explain them in simple terms, as well as to offer guidance. If you are a landlord considering eviction proceedings, or if you’re a tenant facing eviction, read on to learn more.

Under the San Francisco rental law, Section 37.9 lists 16 specific just causes for eviction. We summarize them below.

16 Just Causes for Eviction

1. The tenant habitually does not pay rent or makes late payments, fails to pay submits bounced checks.
2. The tenant does not resolve a significant breach of their lease or rental agreement.
3. A tenant’s actions result in the interference of the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of others, including the landlord and other tenants. The nature of this nuisance is severe or reoccurring.
4. The tenant engages in the illegal use of a rental unit.
   1. This does not include single violations of short-term rental law which the tenant resolves within 30 days of written notice by the landlord.
5. The tenant refuses, after a landlord’s request, to submit a written extension of the expired rental agreement with the same conditions as the previous agreement.
6. A tenant refuses to allow the landlord access to the rental unit after written notice.
7. The only tenant still residing in the rental unit at the end of the term is a subtenant who was not approved by the landlord.
   1. Approval of subtenants is not required in written form.
8. Relatives of the landlord, or the landlords themselves, wish to move into the rental unit.
9. The landlord seeks to recover possession in good faith in order to sell the unit in accordance with a condominium conversion approved under the San Francisco subdivision ordinance.
10. The landlord wishes to demolish or to otherwise permanently remove the rental unit from housing use.
11. Scheduled improvements to or work on the unit will make it uninhabitable. This means that the tenant, during the work, must live elsewhere. Once the work is completed, the tenant must be allowed to move back in.
12. Tenants must move out to allow substantial rehabilitation of a unit which is at least 50 years old and uninhabitable. The cost of the work in this case must be at least 75% of the cost of new construction.
13. Under the San Francisco Ellis Act, landlords may evict tenants in order to remove the building from the rental market.
14. If the property requires lead abatement work required by California habitability laws, the landlord must perform this work with tenants temporarily removed.
15. The landlord, in accordance with a development agreement with the City of San Francisco, plans to demolish or permanently remove the unit from housing use.
16. A tenant’s “Good Samaritan” tenancy expires, and the landlord serves an eviction notice within 60 days after its expiration.
    1. “Good Samaritan” tenancies occur if a tenant is displaced by an emergency or disaster, and the landlord agrees to provide that tenant with temporary replacement housing at a reduced rent.

If you believe your landlord does not have a just cause for eviction, contact our San Francisco real estate attorneys and landlord-tenant lawyers to find out what legal actions you can take.

Rent Ordinance Requirements to Eliminate Services

Keep in mind that, along with needing just causes for eviction, landlords also need just cause for taking away specific housing services. Examples of these services include parking, storage, and laundry facilities.

If the landlord complies with the Rent Ordinance requirements, they may remove services in order to perform work on them. San Francisco rent control laws exempt certain tenancies, but these tenancies are still subject to eviction control. Landlords still have the right to evict these tenants for an above “just cause.”

Call Our Landlord Tenant Lawyer Today!

Eviction proceedings are complex, which is why we highly advise speaking to an experienced San Francisco landlord tenant lawyer before making any decisions. Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, you deserve to understand your rights.

Steven Adaire MacDonald & Partners is here to provide a consultation for your landlord-tenant disputes. Call 415-562-0504 today.