About the Tenants
Do My Tenants Have a Right to Come Back?
In a rent-controlled building, yes. The Rent Board's rules require the unit to be offered back within 30 days of repairs being completed, and the tenant then has 30 days to accept or decline. The return is at the prior rent adjusted only by allowable increases.
Do I Have to Pay Them Relocation Money?
Not for a fire. The Rent Ordinance provides relocation payments for owner move-in and capital improvement evictions but not for a fire. That does not affect the right to return, which is a separate question.
They Moved out and Never Contacted Me.
Silence is not a waiver. The obligation is to offer the unit back after repairs, so a household that has not been offered anything has not declined anything. Document what you have done for each.
What If the Restoration Counts as a Capital Improvement?
Then section 37.9(a)(11) governs and it carries a specific procedure: the notice must state the lawful rent, advise of relocation rights and attach the prescribed forms. Where the work will exceed 3 months, a Petition for Extension of Time must be filed with the Rent Board before the notice is served.
How Do I Know If My Building Is Covered?
The Rent Board is the authority. The general dividing line is when the building was first occupied, with older buildings broadly within the ordinance, subject to exceptions worth checking rather than assuming.
About the Units
Can I Rebuild With Fewer Units?
Only with Conditional Use authorisation. Planning Code section 317 requires it for any permit resulting in the loss of a residential unit through demolition, merger or conversion. It is a Planning Commission hearing rather than a permit counter question.
Does That Apply to an Unpermitted In-Law Unit?
Yes. Section 317 covers unauthorised units alongside legal ones, and every development application must disclose whether any exist. An application identifying none must carry a declaration signed under penalty of perjury.
What If the Building Is Genuinely Dangerous?
There is an exemption where demolition or unit removal is necessary to comply with a court order or City order directing it because conditions present an imminent threat to life safety. Whether it applies is worth establishing early.
What Happens If a Buyer Demolishes Without Authorisation?
Under the Building Code restriction, for 5 years from the unlawful demolition no permit authorising construction may issue, except one providing the same or more residential units in the same or higher proportion of residential space as before. It reaches alterations amounting to demolition, not only literal knock-downs.
About the Building
One Unit Burned and the Rest Are Fine.
Then the questions are whether the rest of the building remains habitable, what the affected tenancy's position is, and whether the repair is substantial enough to engage the capital improvement procedure. All three are worth establishing before you take offers.
My Building Is Attached to the Neighbours.
Most of the city is. It makes any demolition a party wall job requiring protection of the adjoining structures, which is on top of the planning question rather than instead of it.
The Property Is on a Steep Lot With No Vehicle Access.
That is a real cost and one that out-of-area buyers routinely miss. Tell every buyer, because it also strengthens the case for restoring rather than clearing.
Do I Have to Repair Before Selling?
Not for us. Whether repairing is better for you is a different question, and on a rent-controlled building the answer is yes more often than most owners expect.
About the Sale
What Does It Cost Me to Get a Figure?
Nothing. No fee, no commission, no repair spend and no obligation if you decline.
What Is the Transfer Tax?
San Francisco's is graduated by sale price and among the steepest in the country at the upper tiers, and it is customarily the seller's. The tiers have changed, so ask your escrow officer for the rate applicable to your price rather than relying on a published figure.
Should I Give Buyers the Rent Roll?
Generally yes, and early. A buyer without it assumes the position worst for them, which is worst for you. Documented tenancies remove a discount.
Can I Sell With Tenants Who Have a Right to Return?
Yes. That right binds the next owner, which is precisely why a buyer prices it. It is a valuation input rather than an obstacle.
About the Claim and the Paperwork
Can I Sell With an Open Insurance Claim?
Yes. Who keeps the proceeds is a negotiated term rather than a legal barrier. Tell any buyer at the outset; one who suggests concealing it from your carrier is telling you something useful.
Where Do I Look up My Own Building's Records?
The City's property information map carries permit history, complaints and planning records, free. The Assessor-Recorder holds the deed. Every serious buyer will have looked at both.
The Owner on the Deed Has Died.
The estate has to be able to convey. It is a common cause of delay and it runs alongside the tenancy question rather than instead of it.
I Live Outside California.
Common on inherited property. Remote signing through escrow is routine.
If your question is specific to your building — and the good ones usually are — send the address. The answer often turns on the unit count and the rent roll, and our service area index sets out what changes between neighbourhoods.