San Francisco, CA Rental Property Rules: Just Cause Eviction (2026)

9(a) does real work. It bars a landlord from any endeavor to recover possession, which reaches the attempt itself, not only a completed eviction. The section then lists the only grounds that qualify. The first, in subsection (a)(1)(A), is failure to pay the rent to which the landlord is lawfully entitled under the oral or written agreement between the tenant and landlord. That phrasing matters in both directions: an oral agreement counts the same as a written lease, and only rent the landlord is lawfully entitled to can support the eviction.

Subsection (a)(1)(B) covers a tenant who habitually pays the rent late. The word habitually points to a pattern of late payments rather than an isolated one. Subsection (a)(1)(C) covers checks which are frequently returned because there are insufficient funds in the checking account, again describing repetition rather than a single bounced check. 9(a) also lists lease violations, nuisance, illegal use, refusal to renew a similar lease, owner move-in, capital improvements, demolition, and condo conversion under the Ellis Act among the permitted causes. The protection applies even where a rental agreement or lease is silent on term, so a tenant does not lose it just because the lease never says how the tenancy ends. 9 for every rental unit covered by the Rent Ordinance.