Board advances tenant-buyout transparency ordinance to first reading, adds short filing window

The board passed on first reading an ordinance requiring landlords to register tenant buyout agreements, which are monetary offers to a tenant to vacate outside the formal eviction process. Author Supervisor David Campos said buyouts are an understudied driver of displacement and the ordinance is intended to increase transparency and protect tenants from coercive or abusive buyouts.

Provisions in the ordinance include a requirement that buyout agreements be in writing, a 45‑day rescission period during which a tenant may rescind an agreement, a searchable public database of buyout agreements, Rent Board reporting on frequency and nature of buyouts, and a prohibition that would restrict condo conversion for properties with multiple buyouts for a period (a 10‑year condo‑conversion prohibition was discussed). The bill also authorizes enforcement by tenants’ nonprofits and the City Attorney in California Superior Court; the Rent Board was not made the primary enforcer because the sponsor said it lacks capacity.

The sponsor offered a technical amendment to give landlords two weeks to file buyout agreements after they are executed; the amendment (moved by Supervisor Campos, seconded by Supervisor Kim) was adopted without discussion. On final first-reading roll call the ordinance passed 7 ayes, 4 noes.

Supporters said the measure will reveal the scale of buyouts and protect vulnerable tenants, while opponents said the measure treats all buyouts as presumptively abusive, risks chilling benign private agreements and could push landlords toward other eviction strategies.

The ordinance goes back to committee and to the planning process for implementation details; the sponsor asked colleagues to consider the measure as part of a broader anti‑displacement package.