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‘Overdue’ ordinance requires SF landords to report vacancies

By CBS SF Bay Area, December 3, 2020

“A new law will allow San Francisco to track just how many units are sitting empty.

“The city does not have a record of how many apartments are owned by corporations and sitting empty, keeping speculation high.

“Under this new ordinance, landlords will be required to report the following to the city every year: The approximate square footage of each unit, whether it’s vacant or occupied, and the date of any vacancies over the past 12 months, plus each tenant’s base rent. Failure to comply means a landlord’s license to raise the rent will be suspended.

“Cynthia Fong with the Housing Rights Committee says everyday scared tenants who can’t pay rent ask her, ‘Where are the vacancies? What are we doing about them? What’s happening with rents? These are questions that we get asked and we go back to them and say, well, actually our city has no idea.’”

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