San Francisco HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

San Francisco allows short-term rentals (stays of less than 30 days) only by a permanent resident who registers with the Office of Short-Term Rentals. The host must live in the unit at least 275 nights a year, and unhosted rentals are capped at 90 nights a year. Registration costs $925, lasts two years and requires a business registration certificate first. Hosts need at least $500,000 of liability insurance unless the booking platform provides it, and they collect the city’s 14% transient occupancy tax. Below-market-rate units cannot be rented short term.

The city’s position on associations is plain: the Office of Short-Term Rentals “cannot and will not enforce” the rules in private agreements, and a registration does not override your CC&Rs. An association that bans short-term rentals has to enforce the ban itself. California Civil Code section 4741 limits how far an association can restrict rentals generally, but it does not stop an association from prohibiting rentals of 30 days or less.

The Office of Short-Term Rentals mails notice of each application to property owners. Complaints and questions go to 628-652-7599 or shorttermrentals@sfgov.org.

Under section 37.3(d)(1) of the Rent Ordinance, which carries out the state’s Costa-Hawkins law, the owner of a condominium that can be sold separately may set the rent for tenancies that began on or after January 1, 1996. A condo tenancy that began before 1996 remains fully rent controlled. The exemption can be lost in some cases, such as when serious code violations were cited and left unabated for six months or more before the vacancy.

The exemption covers rent amounts only. The city says these units remain subject to the Rent Ordinance for all other purposes, including the just-cause eviction rules in section 37.9, which list 17 grounds for eviction after a February 2026 amendment (Ordinance 3-26).

Two Rent Board duties reach condo owners:

• Rent Board fee. $59 per unit for 2026-27, billed directly by the Rent Board with a notice mailed in January. Owner-occupied units and units with a homeowners’ exemption can be exempt once an exemption is on file, and requests are filed from October to early December.
• Housing inventory. Section 37.15 requires owners of residential property to report each unit to the Rent Board by March 1 each year, and condo units have reported since 2023. A landlord needs a current license from that filing before an annual or banked rent increase can take effect.

These duties belong to each unit’s owner, not the association, but boards field the questions. The Rent Board’s counseling line is 415-252-4600.

State law adds its own inspection. Civil Code section 5551 requires the board of a condominium association to have a licensed structural or civil engineer or architect inspect a random, statistically significant sample of the decks, balconies, stairways and walkways the association maintains at least once every nine years. It covers elements more than six feet above the ground that are supported in whole or in substantial part by wood, in buildings with three or more attached units. The first inspection was due by January 1, 2025. For buildings whose permit application was submitted on or after January 1, 2020, the inspection must take place within six years after the certificate of occupancy.

San Francisco Housing Code section 604 goes further. DBI’s page says it covers apartment buildings and condominiums with three or more units, and it reaches wood and metal decks, balconies, landings, exit corridors, stairs, guardrails, handrails and fire escapes. A qualified inspector checks them and signs a compliance affidavit, which is filed with the Department of Building Inspection’s Housing Inspection Services. DBI’s page says the inspection is due every six years. In a condo building, DBI says the association hires the inspector and files the affidavit for structures in common areas, and the unit owner does it for structures that serve one unit.

The Board of Supervisors amended section 604 in May 2026 (Ordinance 092-26). The amendment changed who may perform the inspection and the affidavit deadlines, and it lets a building also covered by the state’s apartment balcony law line up its city deadline with that schedule once, but never past seven years. The amendment’s text refers to apartment buildings and hotels without mentioning condominiums, and we could not confirm the new interval from it, so ask Housing Inspection Services how the rule applies to your building at 628-652-3700 or dbi.hissection604@sfgov.org before you schedule.

The two rules overlap but do not match: the state inspection is the association’s job and covers a sample of elements, while the city affidavit splits the work between the association and individual owners. Budget for both.

Buildings of five or more stories of Type I, II, III or IV construction fall under the Facade Inspection and Maintenance Program (Existing Building Code chapter 5F). A California-licensed architect or engineer must file a comprehensive facade report every 10 years, and buildings of 15 or more stories also file a supplemental report. First reports for buildings completed from 1971 through 1997 are due December 31, 2027. Buildings completed after 1997 owe their first comprehensive report by December 31 of the 30th year after their certificate of final completion and occupancy, and until then they file a supplemental report every five years, the first of which was due April 30, 2024. Pre-1910 buildings of 15 or more stories owe a supplemental report by December 31, 2026. Questions go to dbi.facade@sfgov.org or (628) 652-3720.

After glass failures in the March 2023 storms, DBI ordered 71 buildings of 15 or more stories built after 1998 to complete accelerated whole-facade inspections, including windows. The Fire Department’s High Rise Section inspects every high-rise building in the city each year, and owners must keep an SFFD binder on site with testing records for sprinklers, fire pumps, generators and smoke control. The Bureau of Fire Prevention is at (415) 558-3300.

The Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program covers wood-frame buildings with five or more units, three or more stories (or two over a basement or underfloor area) and a construction permit applied for before January 1, 1978. As of July 2024, DBI reported 94% of the 4,941 buildings in the program compliant, and the last tier’s work was due in September 2021. DBI says condominium buildings outside the program can use its voluntary upgrade standard. A seismic retrofit may also qualify for a property tax exclusion under Revenue and Taxation Code section 74.5 if the claim is filed with the Assessor before, or within 30 days after, the work is completed.

On a mapped earthquake-induced landslide zone or a slope of 25% or more, major work such as additions over 500 square feet, shoring, underpinning or grading over 50 cubic yards triggers the city’s Slope and Seismic Hazard Zone Protection Act review and geotechnical reports.

Health Code article 19F bans smoking in the enclosed common areas of multi-unit housing, including condominiums with two or more units: elevators, lobbies, halls, stairwells and shared laundry, recreation and bathrooms. It also bans smoking within 10 feet of doors or windows on outdoor common areas and near entrances, exits and vents.

The owner or manager, which in a condo building is in practice the association, must post a no-smoking sign at each entrance and in the lobby, elevator or mailbox area, remove indoor ashtrays, post a notice for 10 days after a written complaint and give written notice to a resident seen smoking in a banned area, keeping a copy for a year. The Department of Public Health provides up to five free entrance signs at (415) 581-2448.

The ordinance does not ban smoking inside a unit with the front door closed or on private balconies and yards. The health department suggests that owners who want a smoke-free building do it through leases or the CC&Rs.

The SFPUC’s permanent water waste rules apply in any weather: no runoff from irrigation, no hoses without automatic shut-off nozzles, no watering during rain or within 48 hours after measurable rain and no hosing down sidewalks except for health, safety or cleanliness. Two rules name associations directly. Drinking water may not be used to irrigate non-functional ornamental turf in HOA common areas, and an association may not penalize owners for cutting back irrigation during a drought or require them to remove water-efficient landscaping afterward. Report water waste to 311.

For larger landscapes, the SFPUC’s Large Landscape Grant pays up to $4 per square foot, with a 50% cost share, for irrigation upgrades and replacing high-water-use plants on sites of 10,000 square feet or more. The applicant must own the property, and apart from design documents, costs incurred before the grant agreement is signed are not reimbursed. Its irrigation controller rebate pays $250 per WaterSense controller on smaller sites and $35 per active zone on sites over 10,000 square feet, which the SFPUC says includes common areas of large residential complexes. Conservation staff: 415-551-4730 or waterconservation@sfwater.org.

The SFPUC’s 100-year storm flood risk map shows where deep, widespread stormwater flooding is likely in a storm with a 1% annual chance. It does not show flooding from the Bay or the ocean. About 2,100 parcels, roughly 1% of the city, are in the zone. Since 2019, sellers and landlords there have had to give buyers and tenants a written flood risk disclosure under Police Code article 51.

The SFPUC’s Floodwater Grant pays 100% of eligible costs up to $100,000 per property for flood barriers, backwater valves, sump pumps and similar work, for properties that have had a storm-related sewer backflow or flooding. For condominiums the project must be consistent with the association’s rules, and no work may start before the grant agreement is signed. Grant staff: 415-523-4412.

Environment Code section 1904 requires owners or managers of multifamily properties to provide enough refuse service and labeled blue, green and black containers in convenient locations. They must also train new residents, employees and janitors within 14 days of their arrival and again at least once a year. Recology sizes service at (415) 330-1300, and the SF Environment Department answers questions at (415) 355-3700.

Approved rates for October 2026 through September 2027 charge buildings of six or more units a base of $7.04 per unit per month plus volume charges, which a diversion discount can reduce. Buildings of one to five units pay $21.16 per unit per month plus their carts.

Since July 1, 2017 (Proposition E), the city has maintained street trees and is responsible for sidewalk damage their roots cause, except damage that existed before that date. Public Works warns that its repair backlog, more than 31,000 sites, can mean a wait of several years. Owners still repair other sidewalk damage fronting their property, under Public Works Code section 706, within 30 days of a notice to repair and with a permit. In a condo building the association usually handles it as common-area maintenance, so check your CC&Rs.

Owners must remove graffiti within 30 days of a Public Works notice. If they do not, and do not request a hearing, the city abates it and charges a minimum of $500 plus attorney’s fees. Report graffiti and sidewalk problems to 311.

The city says building construction may take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, holidays included. Night work that is 5 dBA louder than ambient noise at the property line needs a DBI night noise permit, which is granted only when daytime work is not practical. Powered construction equipment is limited to 80 dBA at 100 feet. Noise complaints go to DBI at 628-652-3400 or 311.