BOMA San Francisco Addresses Office of the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Letter Requesting Annual Report of Tenants, Rent Roll, and Leases

BOMA San Francisco Members:

A number of BOMA members have reached out to the association regarding a letter from the San Francisco Assessor-Recorder initially sent in early November that asked for information from property owners due 21 days after the date of the notice.  Of concern to BOMA was the request in the missive that a property owners' roster of tenants, a copy of their rent roll as of 1/1/2012, 1/1/2013, and 1/1/2014, and copies of leases or lease abstracts for leases be provided to the Assessors' office. 

Some of this information is difficult to come by and also time consuming for our members to compile. As such, BOMA is appreciative that the Assessor has agreed to these updated terms:

• Roster of building owners tenants (including contact information): Due by December 31, 2014
• Rent roll for building owners tenants (years 2012/2013/2014): Due by January 15, 2015
• Tenant leases
• The Assessor has requested this information, but if it is not provided there will NOT be penalties applied. 

The Assessor has confirmed that all information provided to the office is confidential and will not be open to public inspection.

The relevant statute provides that the taxpayer needs to make the records available for examination – not produce or e-mail copies. Copies only need to be produced if either the taxpayer or assessor seeks to challenge an assessment.  Individual property owners may wish to review the applicable provisions of the Revenue and Taxation Code and consult with their respective legal counsel as to the property owner’s duty to make documents available for examination.