Under the current San Francisco City and County Order, a tenant must notify a landlord (or landlord’s agent) if that tenant is unable to pay rent because they have suffered a financial impact (including reduced income or hours, business closures or layoffs and increased expenses) due to COVID-19. This notice must be given every time a tenant misses a payment and must be made within 30 days of the due date for the payment. The tenant must provide this notice for each month they are unable to pay rent, even if they have not received a notice to pay or quit. We strongly advise tenants to give this notice in writing.
Within 7 days of notifying the landlord that they are unable to pay rent, the tenant must provide the landlord with written documentation explaining why they were unable to pay rent due to a financial hardship related to COVID-19. This explanation can be any written communication that outlines their situation, and should be objectively verifiable. While tenants are not required to provide supporting documentation, the County of San Francisco recommends that they do.
After a tenant provides the landlord with both notice and documentation, they will automatically receive an additional 30 days after the date that they provided the documentation to pay the rent. Unless expressly authorized in the lease, landlords may not charge interest or late fees. If the tenant does not pay rent within that 30 day extension, the landlord must notify the tenant that they are in breach. This notice must be in writing, and the landlord and tenant are required to have a good faith discussion about the tenant’s circumstances and come up with a plan to correct the situation if possible. The landlord must allow for at least 6 month long extensions to allow the tenant to pay the missed rent, and must give written notice of breach to the tenant monthly at the beginning of each extension.
There is also a temporary moratorium on commercial tenants grossing $25 million or less. If a tenant fails to make a payment that was due on or after March 17th, the landlord may not act to recover possession without first providing written notice of the violation and allowing the tenant to cure. The required cure period is at least one month, and a commercial tenant may cure by either paying the rent or providing documentation to the landlord showing their inability to pay due to a financial impact related to COVID-19. If the tenant provides documentation, the cure period will be extended by one month and the landlord and tenant are expected to discuss solutions in good faith. Commercial tenants may also extend the cure period for up to 6 months by providing documentation to the landlord. If the tenant has not paid all of the past due rent by the end of the cure period, the landlord may proceed to evict the tenant for non-payment of rent.
The moratorium on residential evictions is set to expire on June 21, 2020 unless it is extended. For commercial tenants the moratorium is expected to continue as long as the local emergency exists.
