San Francisco
SF coverage, in active development.
San Francisco's rental compliance regime is, by design, more complex than LA's. The Rent Ordinance, the Just Cause framework, the Buyout Agreement procedures — each represents a layer of professional-grade legal nuance that's easy to get wrong. We're building the SF engine the same way we built LA: one rule at a time, with the same confidence states and the same honest treatment of uncertainty.
Why SF compliance is different
Not just LA with a different zip code.
Separate ordinance
The SF Rent Ordinance (Admin Code Ch. 37) is administered by the SF Rent Board, not LAHD. It has its own coverage rules, exemptions, and enforcement procedures. Costa-Hawkins carve-outs apply differently.
First certificate of occupancy
SF rent control turns on first certificate of occupancy, not just build year. Two buildings constructed the same year can have different coverage based on when their COs were issued.
Sixteen just-cause grounds
SF's Just Cause framework recognizes sixteen specific permitted grounds for eviction, each with its own notice, relocation, and procedural requirements. Mixing them up is the most common landlord mistake.
The Buyout Agreement ordinance
SF requires landlords offering buyouts to follow a specific multi-step process: pre-buyout disclosure, mandatory waiting period, filing with the Rent Board within 59 days. Procedural defects can void the agreement.
Roadmap
What we're encoding, in order.
Rules are encoded in priority order of compliance pain. The first batch is the load-bearing core; the second batch fills out coverage breadth.
- 01Encoding now
SF Rent Ordinance — Coverage Classification
SF Admin Code Ch. 37
Determines whether a property is covered by SF rent control. Forks on first certificate of occupancy date, building type, and ownership structure. The foundation that everything else builds on.
- 02Encoding now
Just Cause for Eviction
SF Admin Code § 37.9
Sixteen permitted grounds for eviction under SF law, each with its own notice requirements, relocation obligations, and process. Materially different from LA's JCO.
- 03Next up
Buyout Agreement Ordinance
SF Admin Code § 37.9E
SF's unique requirement that any landlord-initiated buyout follow a specific multi-step filing process with the Rent Board. Failure can void the buyout entirely.
- 04Next up
Annual Rent Increase
SF Admin Code § 37.3
Permitted annual increase, banking rules, capital improvement and operating expense pass-throughs, and the specific noticing requirements. Annual rate is set by the Rent Board.
- 05Next up
Owner Move-In Eviction & Relocation
SF Admin Code § 37.9(a)(8)
OMI evictions require declarations, relocation assistance, and a year of owner occupancy. Procedural defects void the eviction.
- 06Planned
Habitability + Code Enforcement
SF Admin Code Ch. 41A
Habitability standards under SF jurisdiction, including DBI inspection requirements and tenant-initiated complaint procedures.
- 07Planned
Annual Disclosure & Posting Requirements
Various
SF-specific annual disclosures (rent ordinance summary, harassment ordinance, anti-discrimination, lead disclosures) and where each must be posted or served.
SF beta
How early access works.
- 01
Add your SF property now
The engine knows about SF jurisdiction. You can save your property profile — address, units, build year, certificate of occupancy if you know it — and we'll have your data ready when SF rules ship.
- 02
Requirements populate as rules encode
Each time we ship an SF rule, applicable properties get the new requirement automatically. You'll see your compliance obligations growing over the coming weeks.
- 03
Free during beta
SF beta properties remain on the free tier until SF coverage is complete and attorney-reviewed. When paid tiers open in SF, beta participants get launch pricing locked in.
- 04
Shape what we build
We'll reach out to early SF beta users for compliance-pain conversations — the kind that determine which rules we encode first beyond the initial roadmap.
Add an SF property to the beta.
Free during development. Launch pricing locked in for beta members. Help us build what you'd actually pay for.
Common questions
SF-specific questions.
When will SF be fully covered?
Realistic target: 3-4 months from the launch of this page. The first 5 SF rules (Rent Ordinance, Just Cause, Buyout Agreement, Annual Rent Increase, OMI) are highest priority and will ship over the first 6-8 weeks. The remaining rules and SF attorney review follow.
How is SF coverage different from LA in the product?
The engine, the proof log, the audit trail, the PDF export — all of that works identically for SF properties. What's different is the rule set: SF properties get SF rules; LA properties get LA rules. The classification engine forks on jurisdiction. You can have both LA and SF properties under one account.
Will SF require its own attorney review?
Yes. Our LA attorney can't sign off on SF rules — different specialization. We're identifying an SF-licensed landlord-tenant attorney to review the SF rule set before paid tiers open in SF. The legal pages will be updated to reflect both reviews when they complete.
Why are you building LA and SF only?
Compliance is jurisdiction-specific. Trying to cover every California city would mean covering each one badly. LA and SF together represent the majority of California's rent-stabilized rental stock and the two most procedurally complex jurisdictions. Getting them right matters more than getting them quickly. Other cities may come later, driven by user demand.
My property is in Berkeley, Oakland, or another CA city — am I covered?
Not yet. The engine accepts properties in other California cities and applies state-level rules (AB 1482, Costa-Hawkins) where they apply. City-specific ordinances for those jurisdictions aren't encoded. If you have a portfolio outside LA and SF, you'll see limited but real coverage for state-level rules; city-level coverage waits for demand.