Property Management in the San Francisco Bay Area
A Bay Area owner with three buildings can sit under three different rent ordinances, with three different allowable percentages, three registration regimes, and three just-cause standards. Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond, Hayward, Mountain View, and East Palo Alto each set their own annual increase, on their own reset date. AB 1482 is the floor everywhere else. Nobody self-manages across eight regulatory regimes correctly for long.
| Regional vacancy | 4.0% |
| Oakland asking rent | ~$2,654 |
| San Jose asking rent | ~$3,437 |
| Oakland rent growth, YoY | ~+13% |
| Cities with rent control | 7, plus SF |
What Owners Are Up Against Here
How We Operate Across the Bay Area
Eight Ordinances, Eight Reset Dates
Seven Bay Area cities outside San Francisco run their own rent stabilization programs. Everywhere else in the region, AB 1482 governs.
| City | Coverage cutoff | Increase basis |
|---|---|---|
| Oakland | Built before January 1, 1983 | CPI via the Rent Adjustment Program, reset each August 1 |
| Berkeley | Built before January 1, 1980 | Set annually by the Rent Board |
| Alameda | 5 or more units before February 1, 1995 | Lesser of 5% or 70% of CPI |
| Richmond | Multifamily before February 1, 1995 | CPI via the Rent Program |
| Hayward | Built before January 1, 1979 | CPI-linked |
| Mountain View | Multifamily before February 1, 1995 | CPI-linked |
| East Palo Alto | Most pre-1995 units | CPI-based |
All seven require just cause. AB 1482 applies where no local ordinance does: 5% plus local CPI to a maximum of 10%, with most single-family homes, condominiums, and housing built in the last fifteen years exempt.
Current as of August 2026. This is a summary written for property owners and is not legal advice. Rates and procedures change, and we track them per building.
What We Run in the Bay Area
- Property management. Per-jurisdiction compliance monitoring, resident relations, vendor coordination.
- Leasing. Screening, compliant leases per city, deposit handling to California’s 21-day rule.
- Construction management. Permit coordination across multiple building departments, contractor bidding, budget control.
- Maintenance and operations. Emergency response, preventive schedules, photo-documented inspections.
- Owner and financial services. One statement format across every city you own in.
Where We Work in the Bay Area
Across the East Bay, South Bay, Peninsula, and Marin. If your building is not in a city listed here, ask us anyway.
Bay Area Answers
Outside San Francisco, seven cities run local rent stabilization programs: Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond, Hayward, Mountain View, and East Palo Alto. Each sets its own allowable increase and its own coverage cutoff, and all seven require just cause for termination. Everywhere else in the region, the state Tenant Protection Act applies instead.
Oakland’s allowable increase is set by the Rent Adjustment Program and resets every August 1, based on CPI. Because the rate changes annually and banked increases are capped at three times the current year’s CPI, the correct number depends on the unit’s full increase history. We confirm the current published rate with the program directly before serving any notice.
Coverage follows the building’s physical address, so an unincorporated parcel is generally outside the nearest city’s ordinance. AB 1482 still applies at the state level unless the property is exempt. This is one of the most frequently misread situations in the region and it is worth confirming per parcel rather than per neighborhood.
Usually not. The Tenant Protection Act exempts most single-family homes and condominiums, provided the owner is not a corporation or real estate investment trust and the required notice has been given to the tenant. Housing built within the last fifteen years is also exempt. The exemption is conditional, so the notice language matters.
That is precisely the case we are built for. You get one statement, one portal, and one point of contact, with each building tracked against its own ordinance, allowable rate, and reset date.
Send Us Your Addresses
Give us the addresses and we will map each one to its ordinance, its current allowable increase, and its reset date, so you can see the whole portfolio’s compliance position in one place.
