What actually changes for landlords on November 1, 2026?

Safe Healthy Homes Act changes are enacted with a scheduled November 1, 2026 effective date. Free public access to the court file ended June 5, 2026, so later litigation status requires PACER or counsel verification. The Act is two ordinances, Bill 250329-AA amending the rental-licensing chapter and Bill 250330-AA covering retaliation, habitability, and good cause, both signed May 7, 2026. Everything below describes enacted, future-effective provisions; verify current implementation and any later court orders before relying on them.

At the license, Bill 250329-AA would add a seven-day tenant-delivery duty and tighten renewal eligibility for applicants with specified uncorrected violations. It also restates license-related rent and possession limits for expired and suspended licenses. How those provisions affect a particular period, claim, or defense depends on the governing text and facts. Its limited 15-day provision is a future private-remedy safe harbor under stated conditions, not an extension of license validity or a general grace period.

At the Certificate of Rental Suitability, Bill 250329-AA's future fresh-CRS provision concerns an eviction action but uses the unresolved phrase "date of enrollment." PRC does not treat that phrase as synonymous with filing. A separate attachment provision addresses eviction and rent-collection actions and calls for the license, required CRS records, and relevant violation records. A separate tenant-request process is also scheduled.

At violations and leases, the bills contain different future rules. Bill 250329-AA addresses specified unsafe, unfit, or imminently dangerous violations and related licensing/CRS consequences. Bill 250330-AA contains the future habitability presumption and expands good-cause scope. Each remains future-effective in this product until a current source review confirms operative status.

The remedy provisions must stay separated. Bill 250329-AA has licensing- and CRS-related triggers, remedies, and stated safe harbors. Bill 250330-AA has different habitability, retaliation, and good-cause triggers and remedy formulations. Neither bill can be reduced to a universal refund, no-debt, rent-collection, possession, or filing conclusion for a specific matter. Further out, annual public compliance reports are scheduled to begin December 31, 2027 and a proactive inspection program is authorized to cover licensed rentals on a regular cycle by July 2030.

Operating without a rental license limits a landlord's ability to recover rent through the courts. License status, open violations, and the CRS record are important inputs, but they do not decide every rent, possession, or filing question for a specific matter. Prepare for the scheduled rules, but verify current City guidance and any later court orders before relying on them in a filing or dispute.