Part of Ellis Act overturned in appeal
File this under ‘Don’t Mess With State Laws’, Mr. Daly… From today’s Chronicle comes coverage of a slight change in the Ellis Act, “A state appeals court has overturned a San Francisco ordinance that required landlords who were getting out of the rental business to estimate to their tenants how much money they would be paid for relocation assistance.”
“The ordinance was part of a package of local laws designed to help renters who face evictions under the Ellis Act, a 1984 state law allowing owners to remove property from the rental market without city approval.”
“Under the ordinance, landlords were required to disclose how much they believed they would owe each tenant, based on their assessment of whether a tenant fit into one or more of the eligible categories. The city argued that compliance was easy and would let tenants devote their energy to finding new housing, rather than searching for documentation of their status, an argument that persuaded Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay in August.”
“But the Court of Appeal said in a ruling made public Wednesday that requiring such statements from landlords, without documentation from tenants, could cause complications if a tenant later challenged eviction, and would therefore exact “a prohibitive price on a landlord’s right to exit the rental market.””
The Ellis Act is a state law and every time the ‘Supes try to mess with it or adjust it, someone takes them to court, and they lose EVERY time. Quit wasting taxpayer’s money on bad legislation and build some more housing, already!
And being a San Francisco resident (though you might not have been here at the time of the vote), how does Matt Lanning feel about State Proposition 215? I would say that most City residents – aside from the NIMBYists – are for the medical usage of marijauna. However, I believe this proposition is against federal law.
Anonymous at February 2nd, 2006 at 6:57 pm ( )I was not here in 1996… I moved to San Francisco in 1998… That said, I don’t have much of an opinion on the issue. It does affect neighborhoods and the residents when it’s not well monitored. But I think that stuff is going to get settled and the problems will get handled to the satisfaction of the majority of neighborhood residents in the near future.
As far as the relationship between state and federal law, my comments are purely to point out that Chris Daly does not legislate well (along with other supervisors) and what he has come up with has done nothing to help renters, while costing the city and taxpayers ridiculous amounts of money.
Matt Lanning at February 2nd, 2006 at 7:05 pm ( )