Owner Move-In Eviction in San Francisco: Notice and Relocation Rules

An owner move-in eviction in San Francisco lets a landlord recover a rent-controlled unit to live in personally, or to house a close relative, but only if they hold enough ownership in the building, pay each displaced tenant thousands of dollars in relocation assistance, and actually occupy the unit as their principal residence for at least 36 continuous months afterward. Skip any of those steps and the tenant can sue for triple damages, attorney’s fees, and, in some cases, criminal misdemeanor liability follows.

Who Can Pursue an OMI

A landlord needs a recorded ownership interest of at least 25% in the property to file an OMI. Owners whose interest was recorded on or before February 21, 1991 need only 10%. Registered domestic partners can combine their interests to hit either threshold.¹

Once any owner recovers a unit in a building through an OMI, that unit becomes the building’s designated owner-occupancy unit. No other current or future owner can OMI a different unit in the same building. A later disability or hardship that prevents the owner from continuing to live there can be raised with the Rent Board through a petition for an exception.¹

Relative Move-Ins

The same eviction ground covers a qualifying family member. To use it, the landlord must already live in the building or move into another unit in the same building at the same time. Eligible relatives are the landlord’s spouse or domestic partner, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and the spouses of any of those relatives. The relative has to intend to use the unit as their principal residence for at least 36 continuous months.¹

Tenants Who Cannot Be Evicted

Some tenants are protected from OMI entirely. If any tenant in the unit falls into one of these categories, the eviction cannot proceed:

Tenants 60 or older, or with a qualifying disability, who have lived in the unit for at least 10 years.
Tenants with a catastrophic illness who have lived in the unit for at least five years.
Households with a child under 18 who have lived in the unit for 12 months or more generally cannot be evicted during the school year.

These protections are not absolute. A landlord who is themselves elderly or disabled, or who owns only one rental unit in the building, can overcome them in limited situations.¹

The Comparable Unit Rule

Before serving notice, the landlord has to check for a comparable vacant unit already in the building. If one exists, the landlord has to use that vacancy instead of evicting anyone. If a comparable unit becomes vacant while the eviction is pending, the notice has to be rescinded. A non-comparable vacancy that opens up during the process must be offered to the tenant at a rent adjusted from what they’re currently paying, taking size and condition into account. Timing a notice to avoid this requirement is treated as evidence of bad faith.¹

Relocation Payments

Every authorized occupant who has lived in the unit for at least one year is entitled to a relocation payment, regardless of age. The Rent Board adjusts the amounts each March, so two schedules apply during 2026:

Notices served January 1 through February 28, 2026: $8,062 per tenant, capped at $24,184 per unit, plus an additional $5,375 for each elderly, disabled, or minor-child household.
Notices served March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027: $8,245 per tenant, capped at $24,733 per unit, plus an additional $5,497 for each elderly, disabled, or minor-child household.

The rate is fixed by the date the notice is served, not the date the tenant moves out.² The extra payments for elderly, disabled, or minor-child households sit outside the per-unit cap, so a protected household’s total can exceed the listed maximum.³

The payment is split. Half is due when the notice is served, and the balance is due when the tenant vacates.³

The Notice and the Filing With the Rent Board

The eviction notice has to name the person moving in, describe that person’s current residence, and list every other residential property the landlord owns. Tenancies of a year or more get a 60-day notice. Shorter tenancies get 30 days. The lease and all its rights stay in force through the notice period.

Within 10 days of serving the tenant, the landlord has to file a complete copy of the notice with the San Francisco Rent Board. That filing must also include the names and ownership percentages of all owners, the recording dates of those interests, the unit’s current rent, and a statement of the tenant’s right to re-rent the unit if it comes back on the market within five years.¹

If the tenant doesn’t leave by the end of the notice period, the only legal path forward is an unlawful detainer lawsuit. Self-help lockouts are not an option.

What the Landlord Must Do After Move-Out

The obligations run for years. The owner or the qualifying relative has to move in within three months of the tenant’s departure and occupy the unit as a principal residence for at least 36 consecutive months.¹

Annual Occupancy Filings

For notices served on or after January 1, 2018, the landlord has to file a statement of occupancy with the Rent Board under penalty of perjury within 90 days of serving the notice, and file updated statements periodically for five years. Each filing has to include documentation that the owner or relative actually lives there. Miss a filing and administrative penalties escalate: $250 for the first violation, $500 for the second, $1,000 for each additional violation.¹

Right of Return and Rent-Controlled Re-Rental

If the landlord puts the unit back on the rental market within five years of the notice, the displaced tenant gets the first offer. The offer goes to the tenant’s last known address in writing, with a copy filed with the Rent Board within 15 days. The tenant has 30 days to accept and 45 days after acceptance to move back in.⁴

Any re-rental during that five-year window is capped at what the previous tenant would have been paying had they stayed. The Rent Board records a notice of constraints against the property with the County Recorder and sends the unit updated maximum-rent notices at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months.⁴

What a Bad-Faith Eviction Costs

A tenant who was wrongfully evicted can sue for triple their actual damages, which include relocation costs, the rent difference at a new apartment, and emotional distress. Attorney’s fees go to the winner. The lawsuit can be filed up to five years after the first statement of occupancy is filed, or three months after the landlord recovers possession, whichever comes first.¹

Emotional distress damages are trebled only if the court finds the landlord acted with knowing disregard of the law. The base treble-damages provision applies to all other actual damages regardless. The Rent Board also has standing to bring its own civil action, and nonprofit organizations can sue on behalf of tenants who were fraudulently evicted.

Evicting a tenant without a legitimate basis is also a misdemeanor under the rent ordinance.¹ Criminal prosecution is uncommon in practice, but the exposure is on the books.

Buyouts as an Alternative

Many landlords try to pay the tenant to leave voluntarily before starting the formal OMI. San Francisco regulates these negotiations under Section 37.9E. Before any buyout discussion, the landlord has to give the tenant a written disclosure on a Rent Board form that spells out the tenant’s rights, including the right to refuse negotiations and the right to consult an attorney. A signed buyout agreement cannot be executed sooner than 30 days after negotiations begin, and the tenant has 45 days to rescind after signing.⁵

A buyout is not the same as settling an unlawful detainer. Court-supervised settlements follow separate rules and require the tenant to have legal representation to waive rent-ordinance rights.

How the State Owner Move-In Law Fits In

California’s Tenant Protection Act (Civil Code Section 1946.2) has its own owner move-in provision with a shorter 12-month occupancy requirement and a 90-day move-in deadline.⁶ For rent-controlled units in San Francisco, the local ordinance and its stricter rules apply. The state law matters mainly for properties that fall outside the rent ordinance’s coverage.

1
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Administrative Code Sec. 37.9 – Evictions
2
SF.gov. 577 All Rates
3
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Administrative Code Sec. 37.9C – Tenants Rights to Relocation for No-Fault Evictions
4
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Administrative Code Sec. 37.9B – Tenant Rights in Evictions Under Section 37.9(a)(8)
5
American Legal Publishing. San Francisco Administrative Code Sec. 37.9E – Tenant Buyout Agreements
6
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1946.2