Parking in San Francisco is notoriously difficult, expensive, and hard to find. When you’re renting out units in an apartment building or trying to provide parking for your residents, it’s important to have good policies in place that are effective and consistent. When you can provide parking options to prospective residents in San Francisco, you’ll find that you’re attracting better tenants and higher rents.
Garage Parking and San Francisco Rental Homes
If your building has a garage, you’ve got a great opportunity to advertise that benefit and attract good tenants. It’s convenient for your residents, and it’s going to be a major selling point when you’re trying to fill a vacancy. When it comes to allowing your tenants to park their vehicles, make sure you have the capacity to meet the demand in your building and with your residents.
You want to offer a garage that’s clean, brightly lit, and
professionally managed. It needs to be secure as well, with a gated entrance or full-time security guards. Make sure all of your
marketing materials indicate that you professionally managed parking will be available for residents and if possible, their guests.
San Francisco Street Parking and Permits
A lot of rental units in San Francisco offer on-street parking for their residents. In this case, you will need to help facilitate the required parking permits. The SFMTA offers residential permits to your tenants who are living in your building and permit area. Your tenant’s residential permit will exempt them from the posted time limits that are enforced for non-residential parking. In San Francisco, each address is allowed to purchase up to four permits, with the exception of areas AA and EE, which will only allow two permits per address.
If you’re paying for the parking permits, you’ll want to roll the cost into the rental amount. If your tenants are responsible for procuring and paying for their own residential parking permits, make sure you provide them with resources and direction as well as any supporting documents they may need to prove their residence.
Include Parking Policies in Your San Francisco Lease Agreement
It’s extremely important that you communicate any parking policies, restrictions, or requirements with your residents. They will likely have questions about parking when they’re considering your property, so provide as much information as you can before they move in. When you’re discussing the lease requirements and expectations, make sure parking is one of the things you talk about. You’ll want to know how many vehicles they’ll be parking, and it’s important to document the registrations, make, and model of any cars that are moving in with your tenants. We also recommend requiring insurance for their vehicle and collecting an additional deposit appropriate for the type of parking space. This helps protect the landlord from any liability that may occur.
