SEC. 1390. RENT INCREASE LIMITATION.
§ 1390
When a landlord applies to convert a rental building to a condo or other ownership structure, tenant rents cannot increase from the time of application until relocation or denial of the application (up to two years). After that period, rent increases are capped to match the Bay Area Cost of Living Index for the following year. Either the landlord or tenant may request relief from the Director of Public Works if hardship or inconsistency with the index occurs.
If a landlord wants to convert your rental building to individual ownership units, your rent is frozen from when they file the application until you move or the conversion is denied—but no longer than two years. After that freeze ends, your rent can only go up by the same percentage as the Bay Area Cost of Living Index went up. If either you or the landlord thinks the rules aren't fair because of hardship or the increase doesn't match the index, you can ask the Director of Public Works to review and possibly make an exception. The Director will look at what similar apartments cost in similar neighborhoods.
- Complex:The section contains multiple conditional scenarios, cross-references to an external index (Bay Area Cost of Living Index), and intertwined provisions about freeze periods, subsequent increases, and relief procedures that require careful parsing.
- Controversial:Rent freezes and caps on increases are contentious policy matters in San Francisco, with disagreement about whether such restrictions adequately protect tenants during conversion or unfairly burden property owners.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
The rent to tenants at the time of filing the application for conversion shall not be increased for the period between the filing of the application until relocation takes place or until the subdivision is denied or withdrawn, except that such period shall not exceed two years. At the end of such period, and for one-year period thereafter, any increase in rent shall not exceed the proportionate increase in the residential rent component of the "Bay Area Cost of Living Index, U.S. Dept. of Labor," over that period of time, provided, that the rental increase provisions of this section shall be operative only in the absence of other rent increase or arbitration laws. In cases of hardship due to unusual circumstances to the subdivider, or in cases where a rent increase authorized herein is considered by the tenant to be not consistent with increases in the residential rent component of the "Bay Area Cost of Living Index, U.S. Dept. of Labor," either a subdivider or a tenant may request relief under this Section from the Director of Public Works or his or her designee. In considering the reasonableness of a rent increase, the Director shall consider the current rent paid for comparable units in comparable areas.