Action/Alerts

Condo reform introduced to the Board of Supervisors

On June 12, 2012, Supervisors Farrell and Wiener introduced condo bypass legislation. This reform has been discussed for many years.  The legislation would allow anyone who participated in the 2012 condo lottery, or anyone who was eligible for the 2012 condo lottery, to pay a fee to convert their buildings to condominiums and avoid the lottery.  The fee is $20,000 per unit, but decreases based on the number of years that the building participated in the lottery.  The fee reduction is 20% per year starting with 2 years of participation, to a maximum of an 80% fee reduction for 5 years or more participation.  There are specific time lines for payment of fees, submission of the application, final approval and the recording of the subdivision map.

For buildings that are not 100% owner occupied, any renter will receive a lifetime lease with the rents subject to the normal rent control limitations.  This differs from the current condo lottery rules, which only grants a lifetime lease to senior or disabled renters in occupancy at the time of the conversion.  The lifetime lease provision may be problematic for small property owners who have renters in the some of the units, but it takes away the opposition argument that this will result in fewer rent controlled units and the eviction of renters.  If someone is required to provide a lifetime lease, the bypass fee is further reduced 10% for one rental unit, 20% for two units and 30% for three units.

The introduction of the legislation is only the first step of a long process.  There will be much opposition to the legislation.  Currently we can only count on four Board of Supervisors votes but we need six supervisors to vote to pass this, then the mayor has to sign the legislation.  Stayed tuned for information on how you can help to pass this long over due reform.