Foster v. Britton, 242 Cal. App. 4th 920 (2015)

Citation: Foster v. Britton, 242 Cal. App. 4th 920 (2015)
Parent Document: Foster v. Britton, 242 Cal. App. 4th 920 (2015)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2015-12-01
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3159177/foster-v-britton/ ↗

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ordinance,2 is required by law, or is accepted by the tenant in writing. (Rule 12.20.) The
primary question in this appeal is whether section 827 preempts Rule 12.20. The
remaining questions are (1) whether the Rent Board exceeded its powers when it adopted
Rule 12.20, and (2) whether it exceeded its powers when it adopted Rule 6.15C, which
limits the rent a master tenant may charge to a subtenant but provides that a violation of
that limitation is not a basis for eviction.
We conclude that section 827 does not preempt Rule 12.20 and that the Rent
Board did not exceed its powers in adopting the challenged regulations. Accordingly, we
shall affirm the judgment of the trial court.
I. THE RENT ORDINANCE AND RENT BOARD
“In 1979, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Supervisors) adopted a
comprehensive rental-housing ordinance known as the San Francisco Residential Rent
Stabilization and Arbitration Ordinance. [Citation.] The Supervisors adopted the Rent
Ordinance because the lack of affordable rental housing in San Francisco was creating
hardships on senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes, and low- and moderate-income
households. [¶] When adopting the Rent Ordinance, the Supervisors created a five-
member Rent Board charged with safeguarding tenants from excessive rent increases,
while also assuring landlords fair and adequate rents consistent with federal anti-inflation
guidelines. The Rent Ordinance mandated that the Rent Board be comprised of two
landlord commissioners, two tenant commissioners, and one member who would be
neither a landlord nor a tenant. (Rent. Ord., § 37.4, subds. (a) & (b).) The Supervisors
conferred on the Rent Board a range of powers and duties, including the power to
‘Promulgate policies, rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter.’
(Rent. Ord., § 37.6, subd. (a).) The purposes of the Rent Ordinance included, among
others, the limitation of rent increases for tenants in occupancy (Rent Ord., § 37.3), the
arbitration of rental increase adjustments (Rent Ord., §§ 37.8–378B), and the restriction

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