3 ms·

Maintenance and repairs were a lot when they had to pay someone to do everything. Then when I entered the family, suddenly I could repair appliances, replace p

Maintenance and repairs were a lot when they had to pay someone to do everything. Then when I entered the family, suddenly I could repair appliances, replace plumbing fixtures, replace outlets and switches, install lighting, it never ends. Many trips to San Francisco from Silicon Valley for repairs. I think if they could have raised the rents when tenants changed, and have been allowed 3-4% annual increases, instead of 2% or less, then it would have been sustainable. But tenants passed on the apartments to friends and relatives, and the rent was delivered in cash to our house. A lot of apartment building owners in San Francisco aren't wealthy, and own just one small building. The lesson that was learned is that it's a really bad idea to own rental property in a city with such confiscatory rent control. And this rent control only on older properties ends up driving up prices on non-rent controlled properties because it constricts the market-rate supply.

kspaans 10y ago
Are you saying that tenants who names weren't on the rent-control leases were living in the apartments? Forgive me, because I just moved to SF, but that doesn't sound legal to me.
- scharfstevenm 10y ago
  Yes. But since they delivered the rent in cash, it was not possible to prove that the tenants had changed even though we knew they had. For us, it was not sustainable financially because we didn't have the resources or the will to challenge the "vacancy control." I'm sure the new owner solved the problem or converted it to a TIC. I like the Ellis Act and TIC concept since it makes more people property owners, and owners will maintain the property better than tenants or absentee landlords. OMG I sound like a Republican even though I am quite the progressive.
  - kspaans 10y ago
    OMG I sound like a Republican even though I am quite the progressive. No worries, blame Prop 13. ;)

kspaans 10y ago

Are you saying that tenants who names weren't on the rent-control leases were living in the apartments? Forgive me, because I just moved to SF, but that doesn't sound legal to me.

scharfstevenm 10y ago
Yes. But since they delivered the rent in cash, it was not possible to prove that the tenants had changed even though we knew they had. For us, it was not sustainable financially because we didn't have the resources or the will to challenge the "vacancy control." I'm sure the new owner solved the problem or converted it to a TIC. I like the Ellis Act and TIC concept since it makes more people property owners, and owners will maintain the property better than tenants or absentee landlords. OMG I sound like a Republican even though I am quite the progressive.
- kspaans 10y ago
  OMG I sound like a Republican even though I am quite the progressive. No worries, blame Prop 13. ;)