Tenants in San Francisco won't get immediate help from lawmakers in Sacramento.
The state Senate shot down an effort that would have limited use of the Ellis Act in San Francisco rental properties, according to reports.
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, wanted to restrict use of the Ellis Act -- which a landlord can use to empty a building of tenants, to make it more lucrative to sell -- to landlords who had owned their buildings for at least five years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
A bill to do just that was killed in committee, the newspaper reported.
Leno told the newspaper that he may try again, because "hard working people... in a very expensive city" are being evicted "for no reason."
The Ellis Act is a state law that allows a landlord to "go out of business," but real estate speculators can use it to flip a property without tenants.
