(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Article 29A, for the purposes described in Section 2958, the City imposes an annual Empty Homes Tax on each person that owns a Residential Unit for keeping that Residential Unit Vacant.
(b) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2024 tax year shall be as follows:
(1) $2,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $3,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $5,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(c) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2025 tax year, if that owner has not kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the 2024 tax year, shall be as follows:
(1) $2,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $3,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $5,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(d) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2025 tax year, if that owner has kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the 2024 tax year, shall be as follows:
(1) $5,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $7,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $10,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(e) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2026 tax year and subsequent tax years, if that owner has not kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the immediately preceding tax year, shall be as follows:
(1) $2,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $3,500 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $5,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(f) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2026 tax year and subsequent tax years, if that owner has kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the immediately preceding tax year but has not kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the tax year immediately preceding that tax year, shall be as follows:
(1) $5,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $7,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $10,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(g) The tax on an owner keeping a Residential Unit Vacant for the 2026 tax year and subsequent tax years, if that owner has kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the immediately preceding tax year and has kept that Residential Unit Vacant in the tax year immediately preceding that tax year, shall be as follows:
(1) $10,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage less than 1,000;
(2) $14,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage from 1,000 to 2,000; and
(3) $20,000 for each Residential Unit with square footage greater than 2,000.
(h) The rates set forth in subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) of this Section 2953 shall be adjusted annually in accordance with the increase in the Consumer Price Index: All Urban Consumers for the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose Area for All Items as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, or any successor to that index, as of December 31st of the preceding year, beginning with the 2025 tax year.
(i) The Empty Homes Tax shall be payable by the owner or owners of the Residential Unit kept Vacant. Not more than one tax per Residential Unit shall be imposed under this Section 2953 for a tax year by reason of multiple liable owners. If there are multiple liable owners, each owner shall be jointly and severally liable for the tax, which shall be the highest amount of tax payable by any owner for that Residential Unit for that tax year.
(j) A person shall be liable for the Empty Homes Tax only if that person, while owning a Residential Unit, has kept or is deemed to have kept that Residential Unit unoccupied, uninhabited, or unused, for more than 182 days, whether consecutive or nonconsecutive, in a tax year. In determining whether an owner has kept a Residential Unit Vacant during a tax year, days within any Vacancy Exclusion Period shall be disregarded if that Vacancy Exclusion Period applies to that owner for that Residential Unit, as shall days in which the Residential Unit was not owned by the owner, but the owner shall be deemed to have kept the Residential Unit unoccupied, uninhabited, or unused on all other days that such Residential Unit is unoccupied, uninhabited, or unused during the tax year.
(k) The Empty Homes Tax shall take effect on January 1, 2024. The Empty Homes Tax shall expire on December 31, 2053.
(Added by Proposition M, 11/8/2022, Eff. 12/23/2022, Oper. 1/1/2024)