Property Management in San Francisco, CA
San Francisco is handing owners pricing power and limiting how much of it they can capture. Asking rents were up 5.8% year over year in the second quarter of 2026 and vacancy has fallen for two straight quarters to 4.0%. Meanwhile the allowable annual increase under the Rent Ordinance is 1.6% through February 2027. The entire game is the gap between what a unit is worth and what it currently rents for, and closing that gap legally is operations work, not marketing.
| Vacancy | 4.0% |
| Asking rent, year over year | +5.8% |
| Allowable annual increase | 1.6% |
| Rent Ordinance coverage | Pre-1979 |
| New deliveries, year to date | Down 70.8% |
What Owners Are Up Against Here
How We Operate in San Francisco
Four moves, run continuously rather than when something breaks. This is the difference between a manager and an operator.
The Rules That Govern Your Building Here
San Francisco is the most heavily regulated of the five markets we operate in. This is the short version of what applies to a typical pre-1979 residential building.
- Coverage. The Rent Ordinance covers residential units built before June 13, 1979.
- Allowable increase. 1.6% from March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027, set at 60% of Bay Area CPI.
- Frequency. One increase per twelve months. Unused increases may be banked and combined later.
- Notice. 30 days for increases of 10% or less, 90 days for anything above 10%.
- Just cause. Required, split into at-fault and no-fault categories with separate procedures.
- Ellis Act. 120 days notice for most tenants, up to one year for senior or disabled tenants, with relocation payments owed.
- Buyouts. Must be filed with the Rent Board. The tenant has 45 days to rescind.
- Rent Board fee. Due March 1 each year, with a 50% passthrough allowed.
- State floor. AB 1482 caps increases at 5% plus local CPI, to a maximum of 10%, and sunsets January 1, 2030.
- Empty Homes Tax. Struck down at trial in October 2024 and under appeal. Enforcement is halted.
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 San Francisco
- Property management. Resident relations, compliance monitoring, vendor coordination, emergency response.
- Leasing. Screening, compliant leases, Rent Board disclosures, deposit handling to California’s 21-day rule.
- Construction management. Permit coordination through the Department of Building Inspection, seismic and historic review, contractor bidding.
- Maintenance and operations. Emergency response, preventive schedules, utility and waste coordination, photo-documented inspections.
- Owner and financial services. Monthly statements, expense tracking, 1099 preparation, performance reporting.
Looking at a specific neighborhood? Our San Francisco neighborhood guides cover rental conditions, building stock, and what an owner should expect across the Mission, Noe Valley, the Richmond, SOMA, North Beach, and the Castro.
Operations, Not the Market
“The market didn’t deliver the returns. The operator did.”
We took over a distressed pre-war mixed-use asset in Lower Nob Hill in January 2020, with a bridge loan maturing in late 2022. Over six and a half years we ran a multi-year capital improvement program, renegotiated the ground-floor retail lease, managed tenancies inside rent control, and refinanced through the maturity.
Single-asset results, San Francisco, January 2020 through mid-2026. Past performance on one asset is not a projection for another.
San Francisco Answers
For units covered by the Rent Ordinance, the allowable annual increase is 1.6% from March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027. It is set each year at 60% of the increase in the Bay Area consumer price index. You may take one increase per twelve months, and unused increases from prior years can be banked and combined, subject to notice requirements.
Residential units in buildings constructed before June 13, 1979. Newer construction is generally exempt from the local ordinance, though AB 1482 may still apply at the state level, which caps increases at 5% plus local CPI to a maximum of 10%.
Yes. If you did not take the full allowable increase in a prior year, that unused portion can be banked and applied later. It is one of the most commonly missed items for self-managing owners, because it requires an accurate increase history for every unit. Increases above 10% require 90 days notice rather than 30.
Beyond legal and vacancy cost, the Ellis Act requires 120 days notice for most tenants and up to one full year for senior or disabled tenants, plus relocation payments per tenant with household caps. It is a long, expensive, and procedurally strict path, and the arithmetic rarely works out the way owners expect at the outset.
Yes. Buyout negotiations carry disclosure requirements and the agreement must be filed with the Rent Board. The tenant has 45 days to rescind after signing. Handling a buyout informally is one of the fastest ways to convert a voluntary agreement into a claim.
Tell Us About Your Building
Send us the address and we will come back with what we would change in the first ninety days: the increase position, the compliance gaps, and where the capital should go first.
