This is a continuation of last month’s blog post in which I chronicled my apartment hunting experience from a tenant’s prospective. This month, I focus on what I felt landlords and leasing agents could improve. PRICING San Francisco is under rent control, so it is in a landlord’s best interest to rent an apartment for… Read More
Apartment Code Violations About to Go Public
August 22, 2013 by
The San Francisco Department of Public Health recently unveiled Code for America, a health and safety history of every house and apartment in San Francisco. This uniform, machine-readable data format-authored by Rajiv Bhatia and Cyndy Comerford from the San Francisco Department of Public Health-will show the entire known history of building, everything from code violations… Read More
What You Should Know About Subletting
June 18, 2013 by
Inevitably, all landlords are going to one day face the situation of accepting a subtenant onto their property. Although all Lingsch Realty leases prohibit subletting apartments, under regulation 6.15A(d) of the San Francisco Rent Board code, a landlord may not refuse a tenant the right to replace roommates on a one-for-one basis every 12 months…. Read More
San Francisco Mandates Seismic Retrofits for Soft Story Buildings
February 22, 2013 by
In 2010, San Francisco instituted a program that would require rental housing owners to seismically retrofit certain soft story buildings. Because the program is currently voluntary, the improvements are not being made. Therefore, legislation has been introduced to mandate retrofits. The proposed regulations would affect only wood-frame soft-story buildings built before 1978 that are at… Read More
Scrupulous Tenant Background Checks Save Time and Money and Headaches
September 10, 2012 by
I’ll be the first to admit that leasing property isn’t rocket science, but it is people science. I consider myself part private investigator, part sociologist, and part psychologist when I am considering a tenant for one of my clients. I recently read a San Francisco Chronicle article about a landlord’s nightmare eviction. You may read… Read More
Reduce Kitchen Stovetop Fire Risk
August 14, 2012 by
While I have not experienced an extreme emergency in the 10+ years I have been managing properties (knock on wood), the possibility and worry is constantly on my mind. Over the last couple weeks as I have began preparing an emergency preparedness plan for our office and each building we manage, as well as information… Read More
THE RISKS OF RENTING ILLEGAL APARTMENT UNITS
May 23, 2012 by
While I receive questions from my clients and potential clients about numerous issues each day, very frequently it seems like everyone has the same question. Sometimes this is provoked by a news article or pending legislation; other times it seems like pure coincidence. The burning question the last couple weeks has been “what are the… Read More