Those crazy neighbors are at it again! This time, it appears as though they’ve run afoul of their landlord one time too many, and the property owner has responded by just completely giving up and Ellis-ing the whole place to cut his losses. Or he/she might just want to build condos all over the place, since that happens to be all the rage these days.
Pro-tip: To be “Ellis-ed” is to have the property owner invoke the Ellis Act, which allows them to evict all residents and “go out of business.” It is often employed by owners as a loophole to facilitate converting units into condo$.
If you ever feel that you are being unfairly evicted from your apartment, a fantastic community resource right here in the Mission that can help you is the San Francisco Tenants Union, located right near 21st and Capp in a classy old house. They take drop-ins too, so don’t hesitate to utilize their services if you ever have any important renter questions. They’ve definitely helped me out in the past!
[Photos by reader Brian H]
Previously:
I’d love to hear the landlord’s side of the story. There are definitely some scuzzy ones out there but I get the feeling that the people that are posting these signs are total tools and likely to be horrible tenants. But who knows.
The tenant’s need to put “scarequotes” around personal pronouns definitely suggests the possibility of mental imbalance.
I am the crazy tenant (15 years)who writes the signs. I feel people who make fun of desperate people are not very nice. The landlord that wrote about me is not the landlord at all but the T.I.C. owner upstairs. He is a real estate investor and only bought the upstairs to evict me. When their false eviction didn’t get me to move then they ellised the building.However, their abuse didn’t stop. Today, I was granted a temporary restraining order (I have filed several). I also have a harrassment case pending in small claims court. I have over 25 recorded police calls in 8 months. I have used H.A.P. E.D.C. and am in touch with the tenants union. Thanks for the sincere support and suggestions.
You know, Nancy; I don’t know you and I don’t know the landlord and I may be completely wrong on this; but the behavior exhibited by the tenant – the posting of signs spelling out her displeasure with the landlord (to put it lightly), is very aggressive and contentious. It kind of jive with the landlord’s version of event – of an aggressive tenant giving them hell. Maybe this is a desperate act by a desperate individual but I personally would not want to live next to someone like that. Thanks god there is no one crazy like that in my building.
But see, Sam, that would require journalism.
“We only want [peace] in our home.”
Funny, I didn’t know the Ellis Act could also evict homeowners.
So anyone who doesn’t own their abode is homeless? Wow.
Some individuals really think like this.
SF Tenants Union is a “fantastic resource”? Really? Clearly no journalism was involved here.
what are you talking about? they provide very helpful advice. have you ever even been there?
They saved my ass once. And armed me with a load of information that’s been useful ever since. They are a fantastic resource.
They were really helpful to me when we were in a legal battle with some very rich landlords many years ago. I would certainly recommend them.
Homeless Advocacy Project drop in hours – 1:30 at 1360 Mission suite 201. They may be able to help fight the eviction.
Tuesdays at 1:30.
THANKS but there never was an eviction because all their charges are fake which is why they filed Ellis. Under Prop. M this is forbidden by the rent board. A wrongful eviction form has just been filed.
it’s not a “loophole” it’s the law.
ellis act evictions mean if nothing else, the units will never be rented again. an owner could evict everyone to move their family in and use it as a private residence. and SF’s draconian condo conversion ordinance ensures these won’t be on the market for hipster trustafarians anytime soon (boo hoo)
The Google. Use it. Love it. Learn from it.
Incorrect. Ellis act means that you can evict everyone in the building, and that you cannot re-rent any part of it for 5 years. After that, all’s fair. The only real “catch” is that there’s a permanent black mark on the property – you’ll NEVER be able to convert the units to condos.
I’m guessing that the owner of this building will take a small monthly ding to their checkbook, and come out ahead after a couple of years of re-renting it at market rates in 5 years.
I think in San Francisco, if you want to re-rent the apartment you have to offer it back to the tenant for up to 10 years. That is the maximum “re-rent” period allowed by the the Act. That makes it pretty difficult to evict and plan on turning it back into rental.
I think you are friends with the real estate agent. You know as much about the Ellis Act as any Ellised tenant!
“It is often employed by owners as loophole to facilitate converting units into condo$.”
Actually, no. Once a building has been Ellised it can’t be converted into a condo – ever.
Nice try.
You people are idiots. You can condoize an Ellised building as long as no seniors or disabled tenants were evicted.
Google.
the current tenant is disabled, so now whos the idiot
ok, listen dudes. i’ve got all the analytics right here in front of me, and i can tell that as of right now only 22 of you have clicked through on the Ellis Act link I provided, which clearly explains what the law is all about.
So everybody, please, check that first, and then come back here for some healthy debate.
like how abuse in the garden and “she” watered my radio are most likely some of the funniest utterances you’ve ever heard.
Abuse in the Garden would be an excellent band name.
I walk past this place all the time. The signs change on a regular basis and I get a certain…. crazy vibe. That doesn’t mean that woman and her kid aren’t being unfairly treated, but it does make the whole situation a bit more confusing.
and ” ‘She’ watered my radio” would be a great Guided By Voices song title.
Maybe if government didn’t tell people what they could and couldn’t do with their own private property, landlords wouldn’t need to result to shenanigans to get rid of people.
That’s right — I’m opening up a medical marijuana/strip joint/halfway house next to an elementary school.
It’s my house and no sons of bitches are going to tell me what I can do with it.
Yeah, because the ability to terminate a lease by a tenant AND a landlord is pretty much a universal thing – anywhere that is, except for in San Francisco. Pretty much everywhere else in the country, either side gives their notice (usually one month) and the apartment is empty.
Now, I think that rent protections are a good thing, but to SF’s laws don’t really do much to protect the tenant in my opinion. All they’ve done is artificially raised rents by a substantial amount, and made it advantageous for property owners to keep units empty for years on end rather than re-renting them.
[...] “Vocal” Neighbors Getting Ellis Acted Those crazy neighbors are at it again! This time, it appears as though they’ve run afoul of their landlord one [...] [...]
Dear Friends – I was completely unaware of the existence of this blog. Just today someone told me about it, so with a great interest I read your entries. So… my wife and I are co-owners with another person of this building and, yes, we are invoking Ellis Act, but only out of sheer desperation – for the past a year-and-half we have lived through hell. The woman who rents the downstairs unit (from our co-owner) and entertains the neighborhood with her prolific signage is an extremely aggressive and displays all the symptoms of delusional paranoia. Almost every morning we wake up to her banging on the walls (4-5 am), heavy stomping on the floors, yelling to us from the backyard, playing blaringly loud music, etc. We find our front door handle smeared with honey, grease or peanut butter on a daily basis, not to mention the human feces on our door step. She makes false accusations that we destroy her plants, read her mail, throw stones at her cat and plenty of other mischief. Despite the fact that we put lots of money and effort into creating a beautiful backyard, we have stopped even going outside into our backyard as she verbally assaults us, we can’t have any social life at our home and we are subject to abusive accusations thrown at us when we take out trash, or simply leave home (she yells at us from her window). She fabricated a story of us being “professional evictors” who just want to get her out, so we can convert to condos. Her actions became so unbearable that back in December we moved from own place and rented a place for two months, just so we could get some rest from that daily abuse. Ellis Act was the last resort. When we concluded that we can’t live under the same roof with this psychotic individual, we offered her a substantial amount of money, free rent for half a year and the house to herself (we would’ve stayed away until she moved). She turned that offer down. Ellis Act took off 10-15% off the value of the property right off the bat. We’ll never be able to convert to condominiums, but this is the worthy price for having a home where we don’t feel threatened all the time. So, as you see a new crop of signs and accusations popping up in her window (almost daily occurrence) just think about what you might not see – a daily ordeal of people who live in the same house.
Once agin Piotr, what do you do for a living? PROFESSIONAL EVICTOR
You should have checked out your new neighbors before you buy or buy your own seperate place so you don’t have to harrass people who are comfortable in their home.
I! THINK A NEIGHBOR LIKE THIS WOULD BE EXTREMELY EASY TO EVICT. What’s wrong with everyone? Piotrs ramblings are ss transparent!
[...] “Vocal” Neighbors Getting Ellis Acted [...]