The table below details the:

  • 27 legal burdens and restrictions on home sharers,
    and
  • 21 enforcement provisions

proposed and contained in both Supervisor Chiu’s Bill and the Recommendations of the Planning Commission.

Legal Burdensand Restrictionson Hosts
Supervisor Chiu’s Bill
Sec. 41A.4
1 / Host must be “Permanent Resident.”
2 / Listing must be Permanent Resident’s “Residential Unit.”
3 / Permanent Resident must be a “natural person.”
4 / Permanent Resident must register the unit with Dept.
5 / Permanent Resident must maintain “good standing” with Dept’s Registry.
Sec. 41A.5
6 / Host cannot rent to “Business Entity” to use as short-term rental.
7 / Host who is a “Business Entity” cannot engage in short-term rental.
8 / Host must “retain and make available” records to the Dept. regarding Primary Residency, number of days etc.
9 / Host must occupy Residential Unit for “no less than 275 days out of the preceding calendar year” (i.e. non-shared hosting limited to 90 days per year).
10 / Host must maintain “records for two years demonstrating compliance” with requirements including residency and insurance.
11 / Host must make these records “available to the Department upon request.”
12 / Host must comply “with any and all applicable provision of state law and San Francisco Municipal Code” including taxes.
13 / Host must maintain “homeowner’s or renter’s property or casualty insurance … of not less than $150,000.”
14 / Host must register and maintain registration “prior to offering” the unit.
15 / Rent Control Tenant Hosts cannot profit from short-term renting.
16 / Host must provide all information required by Dept. on registration application.
17 / Host must pay Registration Fee.
Planning Commission Recommendations
18 / Merely “posting on a short-term rental site without first registering … constitutes a violation that can be assessed a penalty, even if the unit was not rented.”
19 / Registration number must be on all listings.
20 / Increased penalties for repeat violating Hosts.
21 / “Limit hosted rentals by nights rented, similar (to)… non-hosted rentals” (90 nights a year max), or “by limiting the number of rooms that can be rented at any one time.”
22 / Single family home owning Hosts subject to same restrictions as multi-unit buildings.
23 / Tenant Hosts must get consent of property owner.
24 / In rented listings, Dept. must notify owner 30 days before registration.
25 / Owner of SRO units cannot use them as short-term rentals.
26 / Limitations on below market rate rentals from short-term renting.
27 / Hosts whose homes have any Planning or Building Code violations cannot register.
Reference / Enforcement Provisions
Supervisor Chiu’s Bill
Sec. 41A.4
1 / Dept. must maintain Registry.
2 / Registry must be available for public review.
Sec. 41A.5
3 / Director must “take reasonable steps necessary to determine validity of” Complaint, investigate (inspection and request for information), and conduct administrative review.
4 / Director or “any interested party” can “institute civil proceedings” ($1000 per day of unlawful rental) plus costs and attorney fees.
5 / Host can be convicted of criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to $1000 fine or 6 months in jail, or both.
6 / “Offering a Residential Unit … while not maintaining good standing on the registry shall constitute a violation.”
7 / Dept. has discretion to “require any other additional information necessary to show” compliance.
8 / Controller can “adjust the fees upwards or downward … to ensure that the program recovers the costs of operation.”
9 / Hosting platform must provide Hosts with registration and tax obligation information.
10 / Hosting platform must collect and remit “all required Transient Occupancy Taxes.”
11 / Hosting platform must provide notice to Hosts of registration requirements, and Host’s information to Dept. or face $1000 per day fine.
12 / If Host does not correct violation within time set by Hearing Officer, the Dept. can ban the Host from listing for one year.
Planning Commission Recommendations
13 / Planning Dept. to be given total enforcement responsibility.
14 / Registry must track the number of nights a unit has been rented.
15 / Website platform must “provide information on the number of nights a property was rented.”
16 / Hosts’ listed home must be identified on Dept’s public online Property Information Map.
17 / Merely “posting on a short-term rental site without first registering … constitutes a violation that can be assessed a penalty, even if the unit was not rented.”
18 / Registration number must be on all listings.
19 / Dept. to get authority to issue on-the-spot citations.
20 / Increase funding to Dept. for enforcement staff.
21 / Dept. must maintain a list of registered hosting platforms.

September 14, 2014.

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