By Richard Ivanhoe, HANC Board

Residential Rental Registry

San Francisco’s Residential Rental Registry (officially “The Rent Board Housing Inventory”) now requires all owners of residential property to report information about their property to the Rent Board.  The reporting requirements apply to all residential units in San Francisco, including single-family homes, vacant units, and owner-occupied units.   Reports from owners of property with more than ten residential units were required by report by July 1, 2022.  Reports from owners of all other residential property were required to report by March 1, 2023.  Updates will be required every March 1.

For owner-occupied and non-residential units, the owner only needs to confirm their name and that the unit is owner-occupied or non-residential.  For units that are vacant or occupied by non-owners, more information is required, including the start date of current occupancy or vacancy, base rent, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, approximate square footage, and name and contact information for the owner, agent, or property manager.  The information collected is available to the public.  Names of tenants are not collected.

There is no direct monetary penalty for an owner failing to report this information or reporting late, but landlords who have not reported will be prohibited from imposing otherwise legal rent increases.  The mechanism for this is that the Rent Board will issue rent increase licenses to landlords who have reported the required information.  A tenant who receives a notice of rent increase that goes into effect while the landlord is unlicensed can file a Summary Petition with the Rent Board.  If the Rent Board determines that the landlord was unlicensed, the rent increase is null and void.  Tenants and owners can view the status of property (by address or assessor’s parcel number) here: Rent Board Housing Inventory and Fee Portal .

For more information, the Rental Board’s Frequently Asked Questions are here:  Housing Inventory FAQS ; 

The legislation that implemented these requirements, which passed unanimously at the Board of Supervisors on December 8, 2020, and was signed by the Mayor ten days later, can be found here: Download Housing Inventory Ordinance ;

The Rent Board’s Rules and Regulations can be found here:

Rent Board Rules and Regulations (scroll to the last three pages for the Reporting Obligations).

Commercial Vacancy Tax

The commercial vacancy tax was approved by the voters in March, 2020, but its implementation was delayed due to the pandemic.  All owners, lessees, tenants, sublessees, and subtenants of “Taxable Commercial Space” were required to file a Vacancy Tax Return by February 28, 2023.  Taxable Commercial Space is any portion of the ground floor of a building or structure that is 1) adjacent or tangent to a Public Right of Way, 2) located in a Neighborhood Commercial District or a Neighborhood Commercial Transit District, and 3) not residential real estate.  A map showing where this applies is on the Treasurer and Tax Collector’s website:  Map Of Commercial Vacancy Tax Areas .  This site also contains more information about the Commercial Vacancy Tax

Unless covered by an exemption, property is considered vacant if it had been unoccupied, uninhabited, or unused for more than 182 days in a calendar year.  The tax on property vacant under this definition in 2022 is $250 per linear foot of Frontage (the number of feet adjacent or tangent to the street).  This increases to $500 per linear foot for property that has been vacant in both 2022 and 2023, and in 2024 to $1,000 per linear foot for property that has been vacant three or more years.

The Vacancy Tax Ordinance is Section 29 of the San Francisco Business and Tax Regulations Code, and can be found here:  Vacancy Tax Ordinance