As you know, properties falling under the rent control ordinance in San Francisco are subject to rent control regulations. This applies to multifamily apartment buildings built before June 14, 1979.
Property Management San Francisco: Rent Increase
The amount of rent you can raise each year is set by the rent board. In 2017, there was a 2.2 percent allowable increase. As of March 1, 2018, the allowable increase is 1.6 percent. So, you can only raise rents by that amount, and you can only raise the rent once every 12 months.
Property Management San Francisco: Banking Increases
If rents are stagnant and you don’t increase them in one year, you can bank the allowable increase. So, if you didn’t increase rent in 2017 or 2018, you can add 2.2 to 1.6 and raise the rents 3.8 percent in 2019.
Rent Increase and Board Petitions
Another way to raise rent is with a petition to the San Francisco Rent Board. You can petition for a capital improvement pass-through or because your operating and maintenance costs have gone up. For the operating pass-through, it’s generally beneficial to landlords who have recently bought a property and can demonstrate their property taxes and mortgage payments have increased. There is some talk of doing away with this, but the pass-through is currently available.
The capital improvement pass-through is what you’ll do if you need to put a new roof or new paint on the building. You can petition to raise the rent on your tenants by a certain amount. You won’t get 100 percent of your costs covered; generally you can pass on 50 percent of those costs to your tenants, with the cost being amortized over a period of a year, depending on the type of capital improvement.
If you have any questions about your San Francisco rent increase or anything pertaining to San Francisco property management, please contact us at Gordon Property Management. I’d be happy to chat with you.
