Ellis Act Relocation Assistance Law is Upheld

From today's Chronicle, "A state appeals court on Tuesday upheld a San Francisco law requiring landlords who plan to get out of the rental business to pay relocation assistance to the tenants they evict. The ordinance was enacted in 2005 and was designed to help renters who are evicted under the Ellis Act, a 1984 state law allowing owners to remove property from the rental market without city approval."

"The measure requires all San Francisco tenants evicted under the Ellis Act -- regardless of their income -- to receive $4,500 in relocation assistance, with a cap of $13,500 per household."

"A previous city law required landlords to pay that amount only to evicted low-income tenants and $3,000 to disabled tenants or those 62 and older."

"Andrew Zacks, the San Francisco land-use attorney who represented the plaintiffs, said he will ask the appellate court to take another look at the case and then, if necessary, take it to the state Supreme Court."

"Basically, San Francisco has adopted special rules, which only apply in Ellis Act cases," Zacks said. "This isn't really about helping tenants as much as it is stopping Ellis Act evictions. It's about creating a very high price for going out of the rental business, and for that reason we don't think it can be justified under the state statute."

The Examiner covers this today as well.