§ 1396. ANNUAL CONVERSION LIMITATION.

(a) This Section governing annual limitation shall apply only to conversion of residential units. This Section also is subject to the limitations established by Section 1396.5's suspension of the lottery.

(b) Applications for conversion of residential units, whether vacant or occupied, shall not be accepted by the Department of Public Works, except that a maximum of 200 units as selected yearly by lottery by the Department of Public Works from all eligible applicants, may be approved for conversion per year for the following categories of buildings:

(1) Buildings consisting of four units in which at least three of the units have been occupied continuously by the applicant owners of record as their principal place of residence for three years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director;

(2) Buildings consisting of three units in which at least two of the units have been occupied continuously by the applicant owners of record as their principal place of residence for three years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director;

(3) Buildings consisting of two units in which at least one unit has been occupied continuously by the applicant owner of record as his or her principal place of residence for three years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director;

(4) Buildings consisting of five or six units that were subject to the requirements of Section 1396.2(f) on or before April 15, 2013 where (A) no further evictions as set forth in Section 1396.2 have occurred in the building after April 15, 2013, (B) the building and all applicants first satisfied all the requirements for conversion under Section 1396.2(f) after January 24, 2020 and before resumption of the lottery under Section 1396.5; and (C) 50 percent or more of the units have been occupied continuously by owners of record as their principal place of residence for ten years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director. Applicants for such buildings must apply for the lottery within five years of the resumption of the lottery under Section 1396.5(c) and remain eligible until selected;

(5) If the Expedited Conversion program under Section 1396.4 has been suspended until 2024 as a result of a successful lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco challenging Section 1396.4(g) or 1396.5: (A) buildings consisting of five or six units that participated in but were not selected for the 2012 or 2013 condominium conversion lottery in which 50 percent or more of the units have been occupied continuously by the applicant owners of record for no less than six years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director or (B) buildings consisting of five or six units in which: (i) 50 percent or more of the units have been occupied continuously by the applicant owners of record for no less than six years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director and (ii) the eligible applicant owners of record have a fully executed written agreement as of April 15, 2013 in which the owners each have an exclusive right of occupancy to individual units in the building to the exclusion of the owners of the other units. Applicants for buildings identified in this Subsection must first apply for the lottery within five years of the resumption of the lottery under Section 1396.5(c) and remain eligible until selected; or

(6) Community apartments as defined in Section 1308 of this Code, which, on or before December 31, 1982, met the criteria for community apartments in Section 1308 of this Code and which were approved as a subdivision by the Department of Public Works on or before December 31, 1982, and where 75 percent of the units have been occupied continuously by the applicant owners of record for three years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director.

(c) The conversion of a stock cooperative as defined in Section 1308 of this Code to condominiums shall be exempt from the annual limitation imposed on the number of conversions in this Section and from the requirement to be selected by lottery where 75 percent of the units have been occupied for the lottery as selected by the Director.

(d) No application for conversion of a residential building submitted by a registrant shall be approved by the Department of Public Works to fill the unused portion of the 200-unit annual limitation for the previous year.

(e) (1) Any application for a condominium conversion submitted after being selected in the lottery must meet the following requirements applicable to Subdivision Code Article 9, Conversions: Sections 1381, 1382, 1383, 1386, 1387, 1388, 1389, 1390, 1391(a) and (b), 1392, 1393, 1394, and 1395.

(2) Any building subject to Section 1396.2 shall have all applicant(s) satisfy all the requirements for conversion under Section 1396.2(f) in order be eligible to convert pursuant to this Section 1396; provided, however, that any building subject to the prohibition on conversion under Section 1396.2, in particular a property with the eviction(s) set forth in Section 1396.2(b), is ineligible for conversion.

(3) (A) In addition, the applicant(s) shall certify that to the extent any tenant vacated his or her unit within the seven years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director and before recordation of the final parcel or subdivision map, such tenant did so voluntarily or if an eviction or eviction notice occurred it was not pursuant to Administrative Code Sections 37.9(a)(8)-(14) unless such eviction or eviction notice complied with the requirements of Subsections (B)-(D) below.

(B) If the evicting owner(s) recovered possession of the unit under Administrative Code Sections 37.9(a)(11) or 37.9(a)(14), then the applicant(s) shall certify that the original tenant reoccupied or was given an opportunity to reoccupy the unit after the temporary eviction.

(C) If the evicting owner(s) recovered possession of the unit under Administrative Code Section 37.9(a)(10), then the applicant(s) shall certify that the Department of Building Inspection required the unit be demolished or permanently removed from housing use pursuant to a Notice of Violation or Emergency Order or similar notice, order, or act; all the necessary permits for demolition or removal were obtained; that the evicting owner(s) complied in full with Administrative Code Section 37.9(a)(10) and (c); and that an additional unit or replacement unit was not constructed in the building after the demolition or removal of the unit previously occupied by the evicted tenant.

(D) If the evicting owner(s) recovered possession of a unit under Administrative Code Section 37.9(a)(8), then the applicants shall certify that: (i) only one unit in the building was the subject of such eviction during the seven year period, (ii) any surviving owner or relative named as the intended resident of the unit in the Section 37.9(a)(8) eviction notice also is presently an owner applying for the conversion of the same unit, and (iii) the subject applicant owner has occupied the unit continuously as his or her principal residence for three years prior to the date of registration for the lottery as selected by the Director.

(4) Notwithstanding any provisions in this Code to the contrary, the Department of Public Works shall not sell residential condominium conversion lottery tickets to, shall not accept a residential condominium conversion subdivision application from, and shall deny a tentative or final subdivision or parcel map for residential condominium conversion submitted by the owner(s) of a building if on or after October 31, 2014, (A) a senior, disabled, or catastrophically ill tenant in the building entered into a Buyout Agreement, as defined in Administrative Code Section 37.9E, for any unit in the building, or (B) two or more tenants entered into Buyout Agreements during the period beginning ten years prior to the date of the application and ending on the date of the final or parcel map approval. This Subsection (e)(4) shall apply without regard to whether the current owner(s) was a party to the Buyout Agreement, provided that the Buyout Agreement was reported to the Rent Board as provided in Administrative Code Section 37.9E prior to the current owner(s) purchasing the building. For purposes of this subsection, a "senior" shall be a person who is 60 years or older and has been residing in the unit for ten years or more at the time of Buyout Agreement; a "disabled" tenant shall be a person who is disabled within the meaning of Title 42 United States Code Section 12102 and has been residing in the unit for ten years or more at the time of Buyout Agreement; and a "catastrophically ill" tenant shall be a person who is disabled within the meaning of Title 42 United States Code Section 12102 and who is suffering from a life threatening illness as certified by his or her primary care physician and has been residing in the unit for five years or more at the time of Buyout Agreement.

(f) The Department shall review all available records, including eviction notices and records maintained by the Rent Board for compliance with Subsection (e). If the Department finds that a violation of Subsection (e) occurred prior to recordation of the final map or final parcel map, the Department shall disapprove the application or subject map. If the Department finds that a violation of Subsection (e) occurred after recordation of the final map or parcel map, the Department shall take such actions as are available and within its authority to address the violation.

(Amended by Ord. 498-85, App. 11/15/85; Ord. 426-89, App. 11/22/89; Ord. 418-93, App. 12/23/93; Ord. 434-97, App. 11/25/97; Ord. 372-98, App. 12/18/98; Ord. 161-01, File No. 010891, App. 7/9/2001; Ord. 48-03, File No. 030099, App. 4/3/2003; Ord. 281-04, File No. 041353, App. 12/1/2004; Ord. 6-07, File No. 061519, App. 1/18/2007; Ord. 238-08, File No. 081087, App. 10/30/2008; Ord. , File No. 120669, Pass. 6/18/2013; Ord. , File No. 140874, Eff. 12/7/2014, Oper. 3/7/2015)