The somewhat controversial provision in a new tenant-protection ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors and sponsored by Jane Kim that allows tenants to add roommates in a unit up to those set by the city housing code and regardless of lease stipulations remains a thorny one for local landlords. And at Tuesday's meeting of the Rent Board, they tried to undercut the law by getting the Rent Board to pass an amendment that would make it only apply to new leases. But they failed.

As Mission Local reports, there was public comment from about 70 people, both tenants and landlords, fighting over the intent and importance of the law, with tenants insisting that it was meant to address the housing crisis as it exists now, and therefore should apply to all existing leases. Landlords, though, see this as just another obstacle to raising rents in rent controlled units, when there could be a revolving door of legal tenants as roommates under a long-ago-signed lease.

Perhaps even more importantly, though, the law addresses the growing issue of landlords instituting "house rules" and attempting to evict people for nuisance violations like smoking or hanging laundry outside. And the law makes it illegal for a landlord to raise the rent on a unit for five years after a no-fault or owner-buyout eviction.

The Rent Board ultimately voted 3-2 on Tuesday against adding their amendment, which arguably it didn't have the authority to do anyway. The two dissenting votes came from the two landlord commissioners on the board.

The law, without the roommate provision, passed unanimously at the Board of Supervisors in September, and the roommate thing, which was voted on separately, passed 7 to 4. The mayor later threatened to veto the ordinance because of it, but thought better of that before the election, and just made his disapproval known in a statement, saying it "creates a significant intrusion into certain fundamental rights of small property owners."

Kim said the ordinance was necessary to address the greed we've all been seeing from landlords, and to provide "protections for our most vulnerable tenants during this speculative housing market."

Previously: Adding Roommates Made Easier, Evictions Made Harder After Board Of Supervisors Vote