Those who attended an open house and applied for the lease received an email asking them to \u201creply with their best offer of rent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like it broke some unspoken covenant of renting,\u201d said a 31-year-old tech worker who shared the email with The Standard. She asked to remain anonymous because she\u2019s still looking for housing and doesn\u2019t want to hurt her chances of getting another apartment. \u201cIt just felt really scummy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/-S3840x990-FPNG.png\"\/)
The email the tech worker received after submitting her application at the open house. | Source: Courtesy<\/p>\n
Bidding wars<\/a> are common for home purchases, and even for rentals in New York, where they occurred for nearly 20% of 2022 listings (opens in new tab)<\/a>. But the tech worker said she\u2019d never seen anything like this in her 10 years renting apartments in San Francisco. Gallingly, the unit\u2019s original $5,000 asking price was already about 30% higher than the city\u2019s median rent for a two-bedroom, according to Apartment List.\u00a0 (opens in new tab)<\/a><\/p>\n Despite their aversion to the process, she and her roommate decided to submit an offer for $5,100, both \u201cfor the plot,\u201d and because they really did love the apartment. They soon got a response from Centron saying they had made it to the second round and asking if they would submit an even higher offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n That note made her even more skeptical.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all so weird,\u201d she said. \u201cIt seemed like a tactic to drive the price up with competition.\u201d She and her roommate didn\u2019t raise their offer, and they didn\u2019t get the lease.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Centron verified the emails and characterized the practice of asking applicants how much they\u2019re willing to pay as a \u201cfairness process\u201d the company uses \u201cwhen there is overwhelming interest for a unit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Joseph Tobener, a tenants rights lawyer (opens in new tab)<\/a>, sees it differently. In addition to being a grim emblem of San Francisco\u2019s \u201ccurrent housing crisis,\u201d Centron\u2019s \u201cdouchey\u201d rent bidding process is potentially illegal, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf they advertised a set price, and then the landlord decided to do a bidding war, that would implicate unfair competition laws in California, because it\u2019s bait-and-switch \u2014 false advertising, essentially,\u201d he said. It also \u201cviolates the spirit\u201d of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Conceivably, a tenant miffed to miss out on their dream apartment could sue for deceptive business practices. Still, it\u2019s one thing to call a practice illegal and another to enforce it. A private law firm would be hesitant to take on a case for a renter in which it would be difficult to prove economic injury, Tobener said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf we want to prevent this kind of rent bidding, there needs to be legislative action at the local level,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing that runs afoul of the San Francisco rent ordinance right now. But the Board of Supervisors could make this just squarely and plainly illegal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Centron spokesperson classified the firm as acting \u201cfairly and within the law\u201d and trying to do what is \u201cmost reasonable for when there is a huge demand for a unit.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s the second time this year that Tobener has heard of this practice in San Francisco, and he fears for the already wild rental market if it becomes more widespread. \u201cIf landlords can squeeze the market to get as much as possible by making people bid against each other, it will drive the housing prices up around us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Already, Reddit threads (opens in new tab)<\/a> are filled with people complaining about rental bidding and stories of apartment dreams dashed by other applicants offering more than the listed price. The Standard viewed one email from a broker who told a wannabe renter that the winning offer on an apartment in the Marina was not only significantly over the listed rental price but included six months of rent upfront \u2014 as well as a pledge to pay for cleaners to come twice a month.<\/p>\n![\"You](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/-S3840x866-FPNG.png\"\/)
The second email the tech worker received. | Source: Courtesy<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765204569_678_-S3840x2561-FPNG.png\"\/)
Pedestrians walk the streets of Hayes Valley, which has become known as \u2018Cerebral Valley\u2019 because of all the AI talent moving there. | Source: Camille Cohen\/The Standard<\/p>\n