San Francisco Weighs a 10 Percent Cap on Banked Rent Increases Through 2029

San Francisco Supervisor Danny Sauter has introduced legislation that would cap banked rent increases at 10 percent a year through 2029, addressing a practice that let one senior couple’s rent jump by 65.8 percent at once.

How Banked Rent Increases Work Now

Under the city’s rent control rules, landlords can skip a tenant’s small annual allowable increase for years and then apply the accumulated amount all at once, with no citywide cap on the total. Hoodline reported that a landlord could go five years without raising a tenant’s rent, then apply all five years of increases in a single month. Regular annual increases, separate from banking, remain unchanged at 1.6 percent.

What the Proposal Would Do

Sauter’s legislation, backed by Mayor Daniel Lurie, would cap banked increases and certain capital-improvement cost pass-throughs at 10 percent a year for rent-controlled tenants through 2029, applying to increases issued on or after September 15. It would also require landlords to report banked increases to the city and to inform tenants of their rights, according to Hoodline and Local News Matters.

Who’s Affected

Hoodline profiled a senior couple who have rented since 1990 and were facing a 65.8 percent banked increase. Tenant attorney Allyson Murphy called a 10 percent increase “a burden for tenants living on fixed incomes” and said the proposal is “the right start” that could still be strengthened. Housing advocate Aleida García Aguirre said the cap “would slow the increase down but would not stop their rent from rising.” Sauter has acknowledged that 10 percent remains significant, framing the proposal as a balance between tenant protection and landlords’ maintenance costs.

What’s Next

The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the proposal in November or December 2026. It follows Mayor Lurie’s September 10 declaration of a rent emergency, which cited a 26 percent rise in median rents and a 44 percent rise in eviction notices.

Sources: Hoodline, Local News Matters.

Photo: bryan…, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.