San Francisco · Rent Control Tracker

Rent-Controlled Apartments in San Francisco

Real-time alerts when rent-controlled units hit the market. We watch 100+ Bay Area rental sites and check every listing against pre-1979 construction records — so you're first in line.

172,000+ rent-controlled units in SF
Pre-June 1979 buildings · 2+ units
Annual cap tied to 60% of CPI

172,000+

Rent-controlled units

~75%

Of SF rentals covered

1979

Eligibility cutoff

1.7%

2024-25 increase cap

What is SF's Rent Ordinance?

San Francisco's Rent Ordinance, enacted in 1979, limits annual rent increases on most multifamily buildings built before June 13, 1979. The SF Rent Board sets the allowable yearly increase based on 60% of the prior year's CPI — the 2024-2025 allowable increase is 1.7%, one of the lowest in years.

About 172,000 of San Francisco’s 240,000+ rental units fall under rent control. Coverage includes some of the strongest just-cause eviction protections in the country: landlords need one of 16 specific reasons to terminate a tenancy, and no-fault evictions require substantial relocation payments.

Costa-Hawkins, a 1995 state law, exempts individually-owned condos and single-family homes from unit-level rent control. Buildings completed after June 13, 1979 are also exempt. Vacancy decontrol means landlords can reset to market rent between tenants — even on otherwise rent-controlled units.

Why rent-controlled SF apartments disappear fast

Listing sites don't surface rent-control status. The spread between in-place rents (often capped after decades of small increases) and asking rents is the biggest single variable in a SF lease — but it's invisible until you read the building year, cross-reference county records, and decode broker shorthand.

The best rent-controlled units — pre-1979 buildings in the Mission, Castro, Marina, and Pacific Heights — clear within hours. New construction (SOMA, Mission Bay, Dogpatch) is mostly exempt from rent control.

RentReboot watches every Bay Area rental site, cross-references construction year and unit count against public records, and pushes email + text alerts the second a rent-controlled unit hits the market.

Where to look in San Francisco

The San Francisco neighborhoods with the deepest rent-controlled inventory — sorted by where renters actually find listings.

Mission

Largest rent-controlled inventory

Castro / Upper Market

Pre-war Edwardians

Noe Valley

Pre-1979 Victorians and 4-flats

Marina

1920s mid-rises

Pacific Heights

Classic pre-war buildings

Western Addition

Deep rent-control history

Bernal Heights

Small-building stock

Inner Richmond

Pre-1979 mid-rises near the park

Outer Sunset

Quiet, affordable rent-control pockets

Hayes Valley

Walkable pre-war density

North Beach

Historic small buildings

South of Market

Mixed — newer mostly exempt

Common questions

Everything you need to know about rent-controlled apartments in SF

Buildings with 2 or more units built before June 13, 1979 are generally covered. Single-family homes, individually-owned condos, and post-1979 construction are exempt. The SF Rent Board doesn't publish an address registry, but year-built is searchable on the SF Assessor's website. RentReboot checks this for every listing.

The SF Rent Board sets the allowable increase each March based on 60% of the prior year's CPI. The 2024-2025 increase is 1.7%. The 2023-2024 increase was 3.6%. Most years fall between 1% and 3%.

Only for one of 16 'just cause' reasons including nonpayment, breach of lease, owner move-in, Ellis Act (going out of the rental business), or substantial rehabilitation. No-fault evictions require relocation payments — currently $7,900+ per tenant.

Costa-Hawkins is a 1995 California state law that prevents local rent control on (a) single-family homes, (b) individually-owned condos, (c) units built after Feb 1, 1995 statewide, and (d) sets vacancy decontrol — landlords can reset to market rent when a unit becomes vacant.

Pre-1979 housing is densest in the Mission, Castro, Noe Valley, Marina, Pacific Heights, and Western Addition. Outer neighborhoods (Sunset, Richmond) also carry significant pre-1979 stock. New construction concentrated in SOMA, Mission Bay, and Dogpatch is mostly NOT rent-controlled.

Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward, Mountain View, Richmond, and East Palo Alto have their own rent control ordinances with similar but distinct rules. The rest of the Bay Area falls under AB 1482, California's statewide cap (5% + CPI, max 10%/year).

Tenancy-in-common (TIC) units sit in a gray area. The building may be rent-controlled if pre-1979, but individual TIC owners can sometimes invoke owner-occupancy exemptions. Outcomes depend on the specific TIC structure — consult a tenant attorney for your situation.

Be first to every rent-controlled listing in SF.

Email and text alerts the second a rent-controlled unit goes live. No login. No credit card. Cross-referenced against pre-1979 SF construction records.

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