Rent Ordinance & Regulations Super-Extracted:

Costa-Hawkins:
Effective January 1, 1999, under the Costa-Hawkins law, single family homes (without an in-law unit, whether legal or illegal) are no longer protected by rent control if all the tenants moved into the unit after January 1, 1996. It is important to get the word out to San Francisco tenants that if they move from a rent controlled apartment to a single family home, they will no longer be covered by either the rent increase provisions or the eviction protections of San Francisco's rent control law. However, it does not mean owners can increase rents to market rate . There are certain limitations.

SF Rent Board has clarified so far that:

1. Single family dwellings with in-law units, whether legal or illegal, constitute two-unit buildings and will not become exempt
2. If there is another structure on the same lot as a single-family dwelling, then the home is not "alienable separate from the title to any other dwelling unit" because it cannot be sold separately, and the single-family dwelling will not become exempt.

For even more detail on various city and state rent ordinances and regulations, check out SF Rent Board's highly informative web site at www.ci.sf.ca.us/rentbd