571 Bright is one of twenty single-family District 3 homes currently listed for under $600,000. And while the kitchen(s) could use some updating, and it is only a single bath up, there is a “bonus bedroom and bath” below (along with a separate side entrance).
Oh, and there’s a college and university nearby (see reference to separate side entrance).
∙ Listing: 571 Bright Street (2/1) – $579,000 [MLS]
What are the risks of leasing out ‘illegal’/non-permitted space? Can a rogue tenant throw the book at you simply on the grounds that the rented space is not ‘legal’?
not pay rent, file a lawsuit, turn you into dbi, and add additional deconstruction and remodeling costs.
I have been renting an unpermitted studio in-law to a tenant without any problems for over a year. I am well aware of the risks but I keep the unit in great condition and took my time to find a great tenant who pays north of $1,000 a month. We both couldn’t be happier with the arrangement.
There are so many illegal in-laws for rent in SF. Just look at the Sunset on Craigslist.
Did I miss something in the listing about the bonus bedroom and bath being an illegal/unpermitted “second unit”? It doesn’t mention anything about a second kitchen.
Leagally I have 3 units. DBI thinks there are 4. The Assessor’s Office counts them as 4. All 4 are rented out no problem. The appraiser that came in for the Bank calls them 4. The appraiser that came in independently calls them 3. When I tried to take the illegal unit off the market, DBI called it a “housekeeper’s room” and deemed it illegal to “remove the rental unit”. SF is trying to preserve housing not eliminate housing that typically is occupied by students, young couples and families. With a lot of kiss ass you can get DBI on your side easily!
It looks to be a decent home for a decent price. Anyone know if this is priced to be overbid or is this really around the expected sell price?
The SF tenant laws have been discussed at length in many, many SS posts. The editors should probably have a separate archive/search result link to list them =)
The short answer is that full tenant rights apply but the risk of being dinged for an illegal unit by planning is nonexistent if you don’t run into legal problems with hypothetical tenants.
571 Bright has fallen out of contract and its list price has been reduced to $569,000.