San Francisco loses big in property-rights fight

Court rejects demand case over 'confiscatory law' be reopened

The city of San Francisco has lost its bid to reopen a case over a “confiscatory” law it adopted that essentially forced landlords to implement a massive transfer of wealth to tenants if they wanted to change the use of their property.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week rejected the city’s attempt to overturn the Pacific Legal Institute’s federal district court victory in 2014 over the city’s since-repealed Tenant Relocation Ordinance.

It was a “confiscatory law that barred landlords from removing their units from the rental market unless they paid huge sums to their tenants,” Pacific Legal said.

PLF challenged the ordinance on behalf of, among others, Dan and Maria Levin, who live in the upstairs unit of their two-story home. The Levins were seeking to use the lower unit for friends and family, but they would have had to pay their tenant as much as $118,000 for the ability to do so.

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