Back in 1999, Caroline Novak appears to have fraudulently purchased a below market rate (BMR) condo at 300 Beale Street, having failed to disclose that she already co-owned property in San Mateo which would have disqualified her from participating in San Francisco’s BMR program. Having paid $178,500 for the... Read More »

Having been charged with evicting tenants from rent-controlled units and then illegally marketing the apartments as short-term rentals on Airbnb, Homeway and VRBO, Darren and Valerie Lee agreed to pay $276,000 in penalties and fees back in 2015. As we first reported at the time, the settlement included injunctive... Read More »

The number of formal complaints related to illegal short-term rental activity in San Francisco has continued to drop, with a total of 231 complaints lodged in the first three quarters of the year, down nearly 50 percent versus 2017 and 55 percent fewer than the 516 lodged in the... Read More »

The one-bedroom Bernal Heights home at 121 Gates Street was seriously damaged by a fire back in 2016, after which its entry was fenced and secured from those attempting to trespass. Nine months ago near the end of 2017, the property traded hands for $700,000. This past June, plans... Read More »

According to the host’s profile on Airbnb, which has been “ID Checked,” he’s an “Interior designer for tech elite.” And while past listings for his “SF Batch Pad by bars,” or “Stationary pad…on private property,” have noted that said pad is a (shared) bus, according to a recent... Read More »

Having secured a permit to simply conduct an “exploratory demo to determine sheetrock and termite damage,” the new owner of the Bernal Heights home at 310 Moncalm Street, which was purchased for $925,000 in November of 2015, began a full remodel and expansion of the property. Flagged by neighbors... Read More »

Having peaked in the second quarter of 2016, the quarter in which San Francisco drafted a new short term rental law which was finally implemented last year, the number of formal complaints related to illegal short-term rental activity in San Francisco totaled around 80 in the second quarter of... Read More »

City Attorney Dennis Herrera has just filed suit in San Francisco Superior Court against Ashok Gujral, a local real estate developer and investor accused of routinely engaging in under-permitted construction on residential properties throughout San Francisco. According to the complaint, Gujral would seek permits for simple and uncomplicated projects... Read More »

The former homes that stood on the underdeveloped Glen Park lot fronting Brompton Avenue and Kern Street were removed in the late 1960s, when the city widened Bosworth Street and reserved the now vacant 21 Brompton Avenue parcel for the potential development of a City-owned parking lot. But when... Read More »

The owner and operator of a warren of illegally constructed rental units discovered in the basement of the Clean Wash Center building at 4680-4690 Mission Street, on the border of Mission Terrace and the Excelsior, have agreed to pay over $3.2 million in penalties and restitution. Built in the... Read More »