Renting a property in San Francisco

You just moved or are considering moving soon to San Francisco? Your first item on your to do list is to try and find a place to call home. But where to start...

While some real estate companies specialise in rentals, the best place to start looking and getting a feeling of the rental market is on Craigslist. You will have the opportunity to browse listings for apartments, sublets, roommate situations etc.

However, in order to start browsing, you should already have narrowed down choices by answering the following questions:

Do you want to live alone or with roommates?
Which neighbourhood do you want to live in?
What is your budget?
What amenities do you absolutely need?
Are you going to use public transportations or are you relying on your car?

Once you have found listings online that you are interested in, contact the landlord to schedule a visit. Once done, if you are interested in renting the property, be prepared to the following requests from the landlord:

Fill out a rental application which generally requests information about yourself (ie, name, past and present employment, previous housing, references, income);
Pay a $30 credit report fee for the landlord to verify the information you provided in your rental application;

The landlord will get back to you within a couple of days and let you know if he has selected your application. If he did, then be prepared to sign a one year lease and pay a security deposit that will amount to a maximum of two months' rent (three months in the case of a furnished apartment). Most of the time, the rent covers water and garbage but this is not mandatory so don’t forget to ask.

Once signed, you are now a San Francisco resident.

How to resolve problems with your landlord

If you rent or own a residential rental property in San Francisco, the Rent Ordinance (http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/rentboard/ordsrules/600.pdf) will most probably regulate your lease.

Located at 25 Van Ness Ave., Suite 320, the Rent Board’s primary function is to conduct hearings and mediation of tenant and landlord petitions regarding the adjustment of rents under the City’s rent control laws. It also provides counseling information on subjects that are covered by the Rent Ordinance as well as investigates reports of alleged wrongful eviction. However, only the Court can decide whether an eviction is legal or not.

There is no charge for filing the petition and can be done without the need of a lawyer. The petition can be found here: http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/rentboard/docs/documents/516%20T...

The tenant may combine more than one type of claim in a Tenant Petition. The types of claims that may be included in the petition are:

Substantial Decrease in Housing Services;
Failure to Repair and Maintain;
Unlawful Rent Increase or Request for Determination of Lawful Rent;
Improper Utility Pass-through;
Improper Water Revenue Bond Pass-through;
Improper General Obligation Bond Measure Pass-through;
Failure to Discontinue a Capital Improvement Pass-through;
Section 6.15C(3) Proportional Rent Claim by a Subtenant Against a Master Tenant; -
Unlawful Initial Rent Claim by a Subtenant.
Tenant Summary Petition Based on Receipt of Invalid Notice of Rent Increase
Report of Alleged Wrongful Eviction

There is a lot of interesting information on their website and counselors are available by phone at 415.252.4602 or at the counter.