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
How To Deal With A Party Animal Tenant
July 30, 2013 by
No matter how well you screen tenants, it is inevitable that you eventually encounter a tenant who lives a party life much to the chagrin of his neighbors. The hard part about managing party animals who are disturbing other tenants is that unless you living on the property yourself, it becomes a game of “he-said-she-said.”… 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
Why “No Pet” Policies Don’t Always Work
May 20, 2013 by
As most of you know, my general pet policy is that they are not allowed. The way I see it, allowing pets opens you up to additional headaches, such as neighbor complaints, apartment destruction or even a more difficult clean up when a tenant moves out. All of which are circumvented by a strict no-pet… Read More
Supervisor Wiener Explains New Simplification of Parking Tax
April 15, 2013 by
Many San Francisco small property owners are unaware that they are require to pay parking tax for renting out even one parking space to a non-resident. Moreover, the city made it nearly impossible for small property owners to do so by requiring them to adhere by the same requirements as large parking lot operators including:… 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
Giving A Tenant Proper Notice for Entering Their Unit
January 17, 2013 by
This month, I would like to address the issue of giving a tenant proper notice when entering their apartment in order to make repairs. According to California law, a landlord can enter an apartment by giving 24-hours written notice to make necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements, supply necessary or agreed services, or… Read More
San Francisco Apartment Association’s Property Manager of the Year!
December 17, 2012 by
As I sat at my desk this morning preparing to write my newsletter, surrounded by the good cheer the holidays bring out in people and thankful for my clients who gave me yet another challenging, but successful year, I received an email bearing even more good news for 2012. I was voted “Property Manager of… Read More
Landlord-Friendly Recommendations for November Ballot
October 16, 2012 by
In a tenant-friendly city such as San Francisco, it is extra important for landlords to come out in full force on election day in order to champion for laws that will help landlords become more effective, and will limit tenant-friendly legislation. About 65% of San Francisco voters are tenants, so us landlords need all the… 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