Eviction Diversion Law Takes Effect Requiring Landlords to Give New 10-Day Warning to Tenants

SAN FRANCISCO — Following a Superior Court decision entered last week, a San Francisco law to provide a 10-day warning period before tenants can be evicted is now in effect. The court decision applies to nuisance, breach of contract and illegal subletting – but does not apply to nonpayment of rent at this time.

“Evictions are devastating, and they should only be used as a tool of last resort,” said Supervisor Dean Preston, who wrote the warning period law. “No other area of our legal system moves as quickly as the mechanisms to remove people from their homes, and the Superior Court ruling helps move us in the right direction to making sure renters can correct issues before they become grounds for displacement.”

The Board of Supervisors passed Preston’s groundbreaking law in a unanimous decision in January. The legislation requires landlords to provide a 10-day warning period, allowing the tenant an opportunity to correct the behavior that could lead to eviction, prior to serving a formal eviction.

In March, the San Francisco Apartment Association and the Small Property Owners of San Francisco Institute filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from enforcing the law, just days prior to state eviction protections expiring.

“This continues to be a time of tremendous uncertainty for renters in San Francisco, and it’s shameful that the landlord lobby would go out of its way to challenge these commonsense protections,” Preston said.

The Superior Court ruling allows the city to enforce the 10-day notice requirement on evictions related to lease violations, with the exception of nonpayment of rent. This past Monday, the San Francisco City Attorney filed an appeal of the ruling, asking the courts to reinstate the notice requirement for nonpayment cases.

According to the San Francisco Rent Board’s 2022 Annual Report in Eviction Notices, 668 eviction filings would have been subject to the additional 10-day warning period had this legislation been in effect, more than 600 of which were based on breach of contract or nuisance violations.

“Playing music too loud, leaving a bike in a common area, hanging laundry on a back deck – these are the kind of causes that can lead to a nuisance or breach of contract eviction,” said Preston, a 20-year tenant attorney prior to becoming Supervisor in 2019. “Tenants now have an opportunity to correct these issues, rather than facing a lightning fast three-day eviction notice.”

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