San Francisco Owner Move-In Eviction Lawyer

Owner Move-In Evictions Attorneys Representing Tenants in Many Rent Controlled Cities

In San Francisco, landlords can terminate a tenant’s tenancy through an owner move-in eviction. Owner move-in evictions are often used by landlords as a means for forcing long-term tenants to move out.

Tenants in San Francisco who live in units protected by the Rent Ordinance can only be evicted for one of “16 Just Causes for eviction”. Owner Move-In evictions (or “OMIs”) are one of these grounds.

If you are being unlawfully forced from your rental home, schedule a consulation with our experienced wrongful eviction attorneys. A San Francisco owner move-in eviction lawyer may be able to help you seek damages.

Get Started

What if My Landlord Never Moves In?

If you move out pursuant to an owner move-in eviction and your landlord fails to follow the rules you may have grounds to sue for substantial financial damages. Just because a landlord sends an owner move-in eviction notice claiming they are going to move in does not mean they actually will.

If you suspect your landlord has not moved in following an OMI eviction, contact our San Francisco attorneys to discuss your options.

50+

years of experience in representing tenants.

To initiate an owner move-in eviction, a qualified owner must have a certain ownership stake in the property. Owners of record on or before February 21, 1991, must have at least a 10% interest in the building. Owners who obtained an ownership interest after February 21, 1991, must hold at least a 25% interest in the building.

What Requirements Does My Landlord Have to Meet?

An owner move-in eviction must be done in good faith, with honest intent, and without ulterior motive. In other words, the dominant motive for asking the tenant to leave must be so that the owner, or the owner’s relative (where applicable), can move in.

Requirements and eligibility for an owner move-in eviction can be highly complicated and we recommend discussing any eviction notice you receive with a San Francisco attorney or housing rights advocate.

An owner must use the affected unit as his or her principal place of residence for 36 continuous months.
Landlord Must be a Person: The landlord or relative moving in must be a “natural person” and cannot be a corporation/partnership/other business entity.

Eviction Protections

During an initial consultation for owner move-in eviction, our San Francisco attorneys can further explain the limits placed on landlords when it comes to evicting tenants.

Single Unit Limit: Landlords are prohibited from conducting an OMI if a prior OMI has occurred at the subject premises post-1998. Following a post-11/98 owner-occupancy, the affected unit is the only unit that can be targeted for an owner-occupancy eviction.
One Eviction Limit: A landlord can only do one OMI eviction for a given property. Owners cannot use owner-occupancy as the Just Cause for two or more evictions in the same building unless the second is for use of an owner’s parent/child, grandparent/grandchild, or sibling, brother/sister. or a building permit has been issued to legally combine the units to be occupied as a single unit.
Alternative Dwelling: None of the evicting owners can own a “comparable” vacant dwelling anywhere. If a “comparable” dwelling becomes available prior to the evicted tenant vacating, the tenant does not have to move. If any of the evicting owners own a “non-comparable” vacant dwelling, that dwelling must be offered to the evicted tenant, but it can be offered at market rent.
Recording Requirements: the landlord must record an OMI with the Rent Board and with the County Records designating the unit that has been the subject of the eviction and the resulting restrictions. financing.
Re-Rental of Units Restricted: As of November 9, 2015 (Part of Evictions 2.0 Legislation) a landlord cannot re-rent the unit at a rent greater than that which evicted tenant was paying at the time of move out for five years after the eviction unless there were allowable rent increases such as annual rent increases. If a landlord chooses to re-rent the unit within three years of the eviction, the evicted tenant is entitled to a right of first refusal to move back into the unit. Note that if a landlord does not remain the unit for three years and re-rents it to a new tenant for higher rent they could be subject to a lawsuit from the evicted tenant for wrongful eviction, fraud, and violation of the Rent Ordinance, among other potential claims.

Rights for Tenants in Owner Move-In Evictions

Tenants who have resided in the affected unit for twelve months or more are entitled to a 60-day written eviction notice, while tenants who have resided in said unit for less than twelve months are entitled to a 30-day eviction notice.

Statutory Relocation Payments

Tenants who have resided in an affected unit for one year or more are entitled to relocation expenses. The amount increases each year and is available on the SF Rent Board website.

Each elderly (60 yrs or older) or disabled tenant or household with minor children is eligible for additional funds.

Protected Tenants

In certain circumstances, a tenant may be exempt from an Owner Move-In Eviction. Protected tenants are those 60 or over, or disabled, who have occupied for 10 years, and those catastrophically ill who have occupied the unit for 5 years. **Except, where all units are occupied by protected tenants, or the subject property is a single-family home. To learn whether you are protected from owner move-in eviction, contact our team of attorneys in San Francisco.

Contact Our San Francisco Lawyers to Learn More About Owner Move-In Evictions

To learn more about your rights, contact our team at Wolford Wayne LLP to schedule a consultation. A San Francisco owner move-in eviction lawyer may be able to help you protect your rights.

$2 Million

Recovered on behalf of a South Bay Family after an apartment fire caused severe burns to a minor due to the lack of fire safety equipment.

$ 1.56 Million

Recovered on behalf of a group of 30 tenants living in an SRO in San Francisco who were living with horrendous conditions in their rent controlled apartments, including rodents, bedbugs, mold, water leaks, and harassment.

$1.3 Million

Recovered on behalf of a group of tenants living in an SRO in San Francisco dealing with negligent management, pest infestations and poor living conditions.

$1 Million

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco family who were forced out of their long term home due to toxic mold and bad living conditions.

$ 850,000

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco tenant who suffered personal injuries and was forced to vacate his home of fifteen years after dealing with many months of environmental contamination and disruptive and nuisance construction conditions.

$ 800,000

Recovered on behalf of an Oakland tenant who suffered a serious injury due to her landlord’s negligent maintenance of her home.

$ 750,000

Recovered on behalf of a couple living in a rent-controlled home in the outer Sunset neighborhood. Our clients were forced to vacate after the landlord served them with an Owner Move-In Eviction Notice. After the landlords failed to move into the property, our clients filed suit for wrongful eviction.

$ 700,000

Recovered for a long-term tenant in San Francisco. Our client was forced to move out of his apartment as a result of extreme landlord harassment.

$ 575,000

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco couple who were forced to give up their home of over twenty years after their landlord’s dog attacked and killed their dog.

$ 575,000

Recovered on behalf of an elderly, disabled San Francisco tenant who was forced to move out of her rent-controlled San Francisco apartment of 50 years after the landlord/owner failed to resolve numerous building code violations that remained outstanding for over a decade.

$ 560,000

Recovered on behalf of two San Francisco tenants who were wrongfully evicted via a fraudulent owner move-in eviction where the owner failed to occupy the property as their principal place of residence.

$ 550,000

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco tenant who was forced to vacate his home as a result of ongoing, disruptive construction and the owner’s refusal to provide him with alternative housing.

$ 525,000

Recovered on behalf of a tenant living in an illegal unit who was wrongfully evicted. Our client was forced to vacate under false pretenses while her landlord undertook supposedly necessary construction and then was never allowed to return.

$ 450,000

Recovered for a San Francisco tenant who was injured when her stairway railing collapsed.

$ 450,000

Recovered in action for a group of tenants forced to vacate their San Francisco apartment due to severe habitability defects, including mold and water leaks.

$ 395,000

Recovered on behalf of two long term San Francisco tenants who were fraudulently evicted from their home of over twenty years under the pretext of an owner move-in eviction.

$ 375,000

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco family that was constructively evicted from their home in the Richmond District as a result of unlawful rent increases, defective conditions, and tenant harassment.

$ 375,000

Recovered on behalf of an elderly long-term tenant who was forced to vacate her long San Francisco apartment as a result of her landlord’s refusal to address longstanding defective conditions, including lack of heat, mold, rodent infestations, and defective plumbing.

$ 325,000

Recovered on behalf of seven tenants living in a makeshift boarding house in East Palo Alto.

$ 300,000

Recovered on behalf of three families living in a building in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood who were forced to live with substandard conditions for years as a result of their landlord’s negligence, including issues with lack of heat, lack of hot water, and cockroach/rat infestations.

$ 300,000

Recovered on behalf of a San Francisco tenant in Russian Hill. The tenant was forced to vacate her illegal apartment in retaliation for reporting unlawful rent increases to the San Francisco Rent Board. Our client was forced to vacate after her landlord served our client with a series of eviction notices and told her the apartment was unsafe to live in.

$ 300,000

Recovered on behalf of three long-term tenants in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood who were constructively evicted due to noise and nuisance conditions created by their downstairs neighbors, which the owner refused to address.

Awards & Associations

Get Started

For more information or to discuss your legal situation, call us today at (415) 649-6203 for a phone consultation or submit an inquiry below. Please note our firm can only assist tenants residing in the Bay Area.