San Diego · Selling a rental
Done being a landlord in San Diego County.
Between state law and the city’s own ordinance, the expensive path is emptying the building. So don’t.
San Diego is the strictest rental market we buy in. Statewide just-cause rules cover most older rentals, and inside the city of San Diego the 2023 Tenant Protections Ordinance goes further: no-fault terminations come with relocation payments, typically two months’ rent, and the ordinance is enforced. The traditional advice (“get the unit vacant, renovate, then list”) now means months of carrying costs plus a relocation cheque before you’ve earned a dollar.
Selling occupied deletes that whole chapter. The tenancy transfers with the deed, the tenant’s rights ride along undisturbed, and you’re out at a number you saw the math on, without ever serving a notice.
Where we buy in San Diego
San Diego, Chula Vista, Escondido, El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Lemon Grove, National City and Ramona, plus the smaller communities around them.
Not listed? Send the address anyway: the line on a map matters less than the drive.
The ground rules
- No repairs, no cleaning out, no showings
- One walkthrough, not an inspector parade
- One number, with the math shown
- We don’t assign contracts. If it doesn’t close, we buy it ourselves.
The local details
What’s specific to San Diego.
The housing stock
Three markets wearing one county’s name. East County (El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Lemon Grove) is dominated by 1950s–70s single-storey ranches, which is the era of galvanised supply lines, undersized panels and additions that never saw a permit. Chula Vista splits in two: older stock west of the 805, and 1990s–2000s master-planned tract to the east, where Mello-Roos special-tax districts ride on the tax bill. Near the coast, anything inside the coastal zone can need a Coastal Development Permit before it changes shape, which is one reason small old coastal cottages sell to people with patience.
Transfer tax
Documentary transfer tax is $0.55 per $500 of price ($550 on a $500,000 house), and none of the cities we buy in add a city tax on top. A county proposal to raise the rate was dropped in January 2026, so the number above is current.
Recording a deed
The county Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk records deeds at five offices around the county, and title companies e-record the same day in a normal escrow. One wrinkle worth knowing: since December 2024, state law (AB 1785) removed parcel-number search from the county’s online records index. Looking up a property’s recorded history by APN now means a records kiosk at a county office.
What kills deals here
Unpermitted additions and garage conversions surface at inspection constantly, East County especially. Mello-Roos in eastern Chula Vista changes a buyer’s monthly cost and gets missed by out-of-area buyers. And ADU potential cuts the other way: a lot that can legally hold a second unit is worth more than the house on it suggests, and we price that in rather than hoping you don’t know.
Sources: SD Recorder; county news, Jan 2026. Figures checked August 2026; we re-verify quarterly.
On the ground
The maths of vacant-first, locally
Run the vacant-first plan against a real East County duplex: a no-fault termination with relocation assistance, a month or three of vacancy, a renovation on a 1960s building where the plumbing predates everyone involved, then commissions on the resale. It’s common for that path to net less than an honest occupied price, before counting the risk that a termination is challenged, which in this city is a risk with teeth.
We take the building as it stands: mid-lease or month-to-month, Section 8 with the housing authority paperwork, deposits prorated through escrow like any other credit. Your tenants keep their home; you keep your equity and your weekends.
Layered rules. Statewide just-cause and rent-cap law (AB 1482) applies to most older rentals, and the city of San Diego adds its own Tenant Protections Ordinance (June 2023) with relocation payments (typically two months’ rent) on no-fault terminations. Selling with the tenant in place sidesteps the no-fault question entirely, which is a large part of why landlords here call us.
If your building is in one of the county’s other cities (Chula Vista, El Cajon, La Mesa) the city ordinance question changes at each boundary, but the economics rarely do: vacancy, turnover work and commissions cost what they cost everywhere. We’ll tell you plainly which rules apply to your address, because we have to know anyway to buy it properly.
Paper to gather when you’re ready: the lease or a note of the verbal terms, the deposit amount, and the last tax bill. Everything else (estoppel, prorations, the housing-authority transfer where one applies) is escrow’s routine, not yours.
How it goes
The same three steps, San Diego timing.
01 · The conversation
Ten minutes on the phone. What the property is and what’s happening around it. You talk to us, not a call centre.
02 · One walkthrough
Usually within a day or two. This county is home. Half an hour, no cleaning or repairs first.
03 · One number
With the math shown: finished value, work budget, margin, and a closing date you choose.
San Diego questions
Straight answers.
If the property is inside San Diego city limits, very likely: the 2023 ordinance covers most tenancies, with relocation payments on no-fault terminations. County-area and other-city rentals answer mainly to state law. Either way, selling with the tenant in place means the question never gets tested.
Yes. Arrears, a payment plan, even an eviction already in motion. We’ve bought through all of it. The situation gets priced honestly and handled after close by us, within the law, rather than by you under deadline.
You have to respect notice rules for any entry. We schedule the single walkthrough legally and around their day. There’s no requirement to market the sale to them, and because nobody is being displaced, the conversation is usually easier than landlords fear.
Yes. San Diego is the ADU capital of the state, and two tenancies on one parcel is a configuration we know well. Both tenancies transfer at close, each on its own terms, and the ADU’s permit status gets read honestly into the price rather than discovered later.
Nearby
The same situation, county by county.
Riverside
Same situation, RiversideSan Bernardino
Same situation, San BernardinoKern
Same situation, KernOther situations in San Diego
Have a house in San Diego?
Send the address and we'll come look at it in person.