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evict renter in inlaw when buying single family home

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sfcouple

Junior Member
San Francisco, California

We would like to buy a single family home in San Francisco. The home has an inlaw unit downstairs that is currently occupied by a tenant who has been renting for about 2 years. She is paying far below market rate. If we buy, we would like to raise the rent or get a new renter. Is this possible/legal?

Also, in about 2 years, we would like to remove the inlaw unit and incorporate it into the main house (remove renter). The current tentant is not considered "protected" by SF tenancy laws. Will this be a problem or would we have to remove the renter as soon as we purchased (rather than waiting 2 years)?

Thanks very much for any advice!
 


Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
You need to determine if there is a written lease already in place with this tenant. If so, the lease would roll over to you and would continue (at the same rate) until it expires.

As long as the tenant continues to pay rent and does not breach the clauses in the lease, you cannot evict them or toss them out. You can consider "buying" them out, i.e., offering them some financial compensation to help them in finding another place to rent. There may be some options that a new owner who is planning on residing in the unit has.

California has some complicated landlord/tenant laws, including rent controlled situations. You might want to review the attached and check your options with an attorney familiar with these laws prior to purchasing this property:

San Francisco Sell Property Terminate Tenant Attorney San Mateo Real Estate Lawyer Oakland Berkeley Daly City Pacifica Millbrae South

Gail
 

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