TIC/Condo Conversion

The Board of Supervisors passed condo tenancy-in-common legislation June 18, 2013 that dramatically changed the TIC/condo conversion landscape in San Francisco. The legislation would place a 10-year moratorium on all condominium conversions, while giving a one-time conversion opportunity to the current 2,200 TIC owners on the condo conversion waiting list for a $20,000 fee. The legislation would also ban 5-6 unit TIC buildings from ever converting after the one-time opportunity and place substantial conversion barriers on 3-4 unit TIC buildings.

Concern for REALTORS®

The concern for REALTORS® is the inability for future TIC owners to convert their property for the next 10 years, the conversion ban for any future 5-6 unit TIC buildings, and the high standards on 3-4 TIC unit build-ings. The legislation was authored by Supervisor David Chiu, and cosponsored by Supervisors Jane Kim and Norman Yee. The vote was 8-3, with Supervisors Scott Wiener, Mark Farrell, and Katy Tang opposing it.

California Environmental Quality Act

In the Land-Use Committee on June 17, 2013, Supervisor Wiener’s legislation outlining commonsense local implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was passed to the Board of Supervisors (BOS) without recommendation. His legislation attempts to add predictability to the CEQA review and appeal process. Supervisor Kim’s competing legislation, which leaves the door wide open for people looking to appeal Categorical Exemptions and Negative Declarations, was also passed to the BOS without recommendation. Supervisor Chiu is attempting to amend Wiener’s legislation to bridge the differences between the two competing pieces of legislation and will likely present his amendments at the next BOS meeting.

Impact to REALTORS®

The legislation would impact REALTORS® by determining the process property owners would need to navigate to achieve approval for any renovations or building improvements, and possibly adding structure and stronger timelines for that process.

Please feel free to contact your Government and Community Relations staff at SFAR with any feedback or questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.