SF Magazine reports:
Though S.F. has been a challenging environment for renters in recent years, the unique details of this eviction are especially striking. The question, “What’s my house worth?” becomes painfully relevant for tenants like Malliett facing the whims of new landlords. In her case, Mathieu Verbeeck, a VP of product development at Mubi, and Catherine Crevels, a marketing manager at Intuit, are leveraging an unusual angle to initiate evictions. They allege that Malliett and her daughter constitute a “nuisance” because their home lacks the necessary permits—a claim made despite laws that protect tenants from being evicted on the grounds of residing in unpermitted units. The landlords’ innovative tactic is setting off alarms among tenants’ rights groups, fearing a new, troublesome precedent.
“This is the first time we’ve seen a tenant accused of nuisance for living in an illegal unit,” says tenant rights attorney Joseph Tobener, whose firm is representing Malliett. And what, pray tell, is the nuisance cited in the legal notice? “Defendant’s usage of gas or electrical appliances is dangerous.” That’s right: Only in San Francisco do you stand to lose your rent-controlled apartment for boiling water.
Read on for the whole story.
Catherine Crevels and Mathieu Verbeeck are really playing below the belt by going this route. And the fact that the city may be allowing this is unsettling. Claiming a “nuisance for living” issue for Michelle Malliett using her stove is just ridiculous. This is very unfair.
Slimy. If they didn’t want an illegal unit, they could just ask her to leave, pay her off and not put the blame on her. When you buy a property, you know it has an illegal unit. The sellers have to declare it. So it shows what sort of people these losers are.
Whoa, missionmission, doxxing much?
I get why you’re reporting on the story, and it sounds like an important story to tell, but this sounds an awful lot like you’re putting out a Google bomb on these people. I mean, why are their names specifically important in the headline? And why is it important that they are a “tech couple”? Would this evection tactic be acceptable if, say, they were schoolteachers instead?
I have a long appreciated your levelheaded reporting of the many difficult social and economic issues facing this neighborhood, but I do not see how this kind of behavior is helpful at all. Creating more personal animosity here is not going to solve anything.
Disappointing….
Untwist your knickers. The story is from SF Magazine, and was also reported by the Chronicle website. And you’re reading far too much motive into a cut-and-paste blog entry.
Oh, spare me, sweetheart. I think their faces should be posted on every telephone pole within a mile radius of that dwelling, so the neighborhood knows exactly who they ar
Yeah, but schoolteachers haven’t been doing that to people around here. I’m sure this couple has lawyers to defend them, so step off your high horse.