Following San Francisco Apartment Assn. v. City & County of San Francisco (2016) 3 Cal.App.5th 463, this decision holds that section 181(c) of San Francisco’s Planning Code is preempted by the Ellis Act.  The section allows enlargement, renovation, or reconstruction of nonconforming residential units but not if the unit had experienced a “no-fault” eviction including one under the Ellis Act within the last ten years.  The ten-year waiting period penalized owners for exercising rights the Ellis Act guaranteed and encroached on an area of exclusive state regulation.

California Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2 (Miller, J.); April 11, 2018 (partial publication); 2018 WL 1736614