While the former president of San Francisco’s Building Inspection Commission, Rodrigo Santos, has been indicted for bank fraud, as charged last year, the City Attorney’s investigation into permitting, inspection and contracting abuses within the Department of Building Inspection and SFPUC is still going strong. As we first reported back... Read More »

Having been flagged for the addition of an unpermitted in-law unit back in early 2015, the Excelsior District home at 68 Vienna Street hit the market in July of 2015, listed as a “fully remodeled” four-bedroom home with a “separate entrance” to the two bedrooms, two baths and big... Read More »

With the master lease to the San Francisco Art Institute, which had been using the building for student housing, having expired last year, and 52 of the 54 units, 27 of which had private bathrooms, having been delivered vacant, the former Abby Hotel at 630 Geary Street traded for... Read More »

While common in practice and rarely enforced, parking in the setback/driveway between a home’s garage and the sidewalk in San Francisco is technically illegal per Planning Code Section 132(f), and that includes the parking/storage of any motor vehicles, trailers and/or boats. In addition, the curb cut in front of... Read More »

Seized by the U.S. Marshals Service earlier this year, which shouldn’t have caught any plugged-in readers by surprise, the four-bedroom, 5,100-square-foot Pacific Heights view home at 2755 Fillmore Street has now been listed with a $13,999,000 price tag. It was back in April of 2018 that we tied the... Read More »

As we first reported back in 2018: San Francisco’s City Attorney, Dennis Herrera, has just filed suit against construction engineering firm Santos & Urrutia Associates, its principals and several clients and contractors over “an elaborate scheme” to excavate and expand under multiple San Francisco homes without securing proper permits... Read More »

While the number of formal complaints related to illegal short-term rental activity in San Francisco had been on the decline since the second quarter of 2016, following the passage (and eventual enforcement) of San Francisco’s short-term rental law, said decline came to end in the second quarter of last... Read More »

It was back in April of 2018 that we tied the eye-popping sale of 2755 Fillmore Street for $13.5 million to Michael Lacey, the co-founder of Backpage.com, and two counts of money laundering with respect to the purchase of said home. As we noted at the time, the federal... Read More »

While the original terms of the Academy of Art University’s nearly $60 million settlement with the City of San Francisco – to resolve allegations that the institution had systematically schemed to violate state and local laws in its acquisition and use of real estate holdings in San Francisco over... Read More »

Having been accused of routinely engaging in the under-permitted renovation and expansion of residential properties throughout San Francisco, Ashok Gujral, a local real estate developer, has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle with the City. In addition to the cash settlement, Gujral has been required “to bring all... Read More »