SEC. 1391. VACATION OF UNITS: STATUTORY NOTICE OF EVICTION REQUIRED; EXTENSION OF LEASES FOR ELDERLY TENANTS.
§ 1391
When a residential building converts to condos, tenants who don't buy must receive 120 days' notice to relocate (or until their lease expires if longer), plus an option to renew for up to one year. Tenants aged 62+ or permanently disabled get lifetime lease extensions, with rent capped at the conversion-application rate plus cost-of-living adjustments, and can terminate with 30 days' notice.
When an apartment building is being converted to condos, tenants who don't buy their unit get 120 days to move out after getting written notice. If a tenant already has a lease lasting longer than 120 days, they can stay until the lease ends. Tenants can also choose to sign a new lease for up to one year after the conversion is approved. Tenants who are 62 or older, or who are permanently disabled, get special protection: they can keep renewing their lease for as long as they live there (or until the last household member who's a relative and 62+ passes away). Their rent can only go up by the same percentage as the Bay Area Cost of Living Index, and they can end their lease anytime with 30 days' notice. All tenants remain eligible for moving assistance money if they qualify for it.
- Complex:The section weaves together multiple overlapping timelines (120-day notice, existing leases, lease extension option, statutory eviction notice) and cross-references California law, making the interplay of notice periods and tenant rights non-obvious without careful parsing.
- Controversial:Condo conversions and tenant displacement are subjects of significant policy disagreement in San Francisco, and this section sets out displacement protections that some may view as insufficient or others as burdensome.
- Could be simpler:Subsection (c) could be clearer if the sequence—immediate rent-freeze option, then post-conversion lease terms, then elderly/disabled protections—were laid out as separate, numbered pathways rather than as a dense paragraph.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) Except for tenants availing themselves of the lease option set forth below, each nonpurchasing tenant shall be given 120 days from the date of receipt of notification from the subdivider of the intent to convert (as required in California Government Code Section 60427.1) to find substitute housing and to relocate. The subdivider shall not transmit such notice, however, prior to recordation of the Final Map or Parcel Map. If any tenant has a lease to occupy a unit in which the term of said lease extends longer than the 120-day period provided herein, such tenant shall not be evicted except for cause until the expiration of such lease.
Each nonpurchasing tenant shall be given the option of entering into or renewing a lease agreement to occupy said tenant's dwelling unit for period of up to one year following the date of approval of the Final Map; the rental charge and rights and obligations of the parties during said period shall be in accordance with Subsection (c) of this Section.
(b) Upon expiration of all such time requirements and upon satisfaction of any conditions required for conformity with the Master Plan, including the recordation of the Final Map or Parcel Map, the tenant shall also be entitled to the statutory period for notice of eviction as provided in California Civil Code Section 1946.
This provision shall not affect the requirement that a tenant receive relocation services and reimbursements for moving expenses provided that the tenant request and be eligible for said services as provided in Section 1392 and Section 1393, and provided that the time for relocation assistance not extend beyond the 120-day period of the notice of intent to convert or any lease extension as required in Subsection (a) of this Section.
(c) No subdivider or subsequent condominium unit owner shall refuse to renew a lease or extend a rental agreement to any nonpurchasing tenant aged 62 or older at the time of recordation; of the Final Map or Parcel Map, or any tenant permanently disabled. Any extended leases or rental agreements made pursuant hereto shall expire only upon the death or demise of such tenant or the last surviving member of the tenant's household, provided such surviving member is related to the tenant by blood or marriage and is aged 62 or older at the time of death or demise of such tenant, or at such time as the tenant voluntarily vacates the unit after giving due notice of such intent to vacate. Each lease shall contain a provision allowing the tenant to terminate the lease and vacate the unit upon 30 days' notice. Rent charged during the term of any extended lease or rental agreement pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall not exceed the rent charged at the time of filing of the application for conversion, plus any increases proportionate to the increases in the residential rent component of the "Bay Area Cost of Living Index, U.S. Dept. of Labor," provided that the rental increase provisions of this Section shall be operative only in the absence of other applicable rent increase or arbitration laws. This Section shall not alter or abridge the rights or obligations of the parties in performance of their covenants, including but not limited to the provision of services, payment of rent or the obligations imposed by Sections 1941, 1941.1 and 1941.2 of the California Civil Code. There shall be no decrease in dwelling unit maintenance or other services historically provided to such units and such tenants.