S.F. Apartment Assn. v. City & County of S.F. (2024)

Citation: S.F. Apartment Assn. v. City & County of S.F. (2024)
Parent Document: S.F. Apartment Assn. v. City & County of S.F. (2024)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2024-09-11
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10114513/sf-apartment-assn-v-city-county-of-sf/ ↗

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such a defense if they could show no breach had occurred. The eviction
certificate requirement, however, raised a “procedural barrier” for landlords
that precluded relief altogether. (Birkenfeld, at p. 151.) Landlords had no
ability to “meet the defense” by showing they could have qualified for the
certificate had they applied for it. (Ibid.) Similarly, here, Ordinance No. 18-
22’s supplemental 10-day notice requirement creates a barrier that precludes
relief altogether without demonstrated compliance. Landlords cannot “meet
the defense” by showing tenants would have been guilty of unlawful detainer
had they been provided with the additional 10-day warning and cure period.
(Birkenfeld, at p. 151.) The effect of Ordinance No. 18-22 is therefore
procedural.
      B. Legislative History
      The legislative history of Ordinance No. 18-22 shows that its purpose is
also procedural. On January 10, 2022, San Francisco Supervisor Dean
Preston introduced the ordinance at a Land Use and Transportation
Committee hearing. Supervisor Preston stated that the Board had “come
together to ban most evictions” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was
now “even clearer that making an eviction a last resort is beneficial for all of
us and not just a good idea during and as a response in COVID but also more
permanently for the future of our city.” He then explained: “Evictions really
should be a tool of last resort and all too often, three days really flies by and
tenants are in a position where they could have come up with rent money or
otherwise solved the dispute with the landlord but they simply don’t have
enough time to access the resources and help they need.” Supervisor Preston
described the current state statutory law in section 1161 as “very harsh,” that
landlords can “commence the eviction process just three days later, even if
the tenant comes up with the rent or cures the breach of contract on the

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