SAN FRANCISCO — On Friday, June 2, San Francisco District Attorney David Chiu announced in a news release that he is filing a lawsuit against the landlord of four Bernal Heights apartment buildings alleging unauthorized works, illegally converted housing units and significant fire safety issues have. The lawsuit was filed against 320 Alemany LLC and its sole manager, Jack Tseng, who profited for years from renting illegal and unsafe units to San Francisco tenants.
“These properties pose a serious fire hazard,” Chiu said. “After dozens of illegal conversions, the landlord has made a significant profit from the same tenants he put at risk. We are taking steps to ensure the safety issues are addressed and the landlord held accountable.”
“The violations set forth in this complaint against the owner are alarming and serious,” said San Francisco regulator Hillary Ronen. “The city must do everything in its power to hold this owner accountable for his actions and to vindicate the tenants in these units. The Oversight Board recently passed legislation I wrote to increase the fines and penalties for such offenders, and I am pleased that they are already being applied in this case. We must continue to make it clear as a city that knowingly disregarding our building and fire codes will not be tolerated as a cost of doing business for developers and will be punishable by a fine to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
The property at 316-328 Alemany Boulevard consists of four adjacent multi-unit apartment buildings where the owner illegally converted 13 approved housing units into 32 illegal housing units, resulting in violations of building codes and safety hazards on the property. San Francisco has issued 26 notices of violations (NOV) of building, electrical, fire, health, housing, zoning, and plumbing codes. The owner didn’t heal any of the NOVs.
Some of the units have bedrooms with no emergency exits, which is a concern in the event of a fire. The fire hazard is so great that the Department of Building Inspection issued emergency orders requiring the immediate evacuation of two of the units. Other violations include blocked emergency exits, a fire escape that doesn’t reach the bedroom window, extensive unauthorized work, and pest infestations.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants caused a public nuisance and violated the state housing code, several municipal ordinances and the California unfair competition statute. The SF City Attorney’s lawsuit seeks penalties, fees, and declaratory and injunctive relief to remedy the violations at the property.
The case is City and County of San Francisco and the People of the State of California v. 320 Alemany LLC. and Jack Tseng. Details of the complaint can be found here.
