Short reads on what to check before signing a lease, how to file a complaint when something is broken, and how to read a building's public record.
How to check a San Francisco address before signing a lease
What public records exist on every SF address, where to find them, and what to do with the patterns you spot. Covers DBI complaints, formal notices, fire records, permits, and 311. The piece to start with if you are looking at a unit and want to know what the building's history actually says about it.
How to file a housing complaint in San Francisco
A walkthrough of when to file with DBI versus Fire versus 311, how to file anonymously if you are worried about retaliation, what to include in the description so the inspector can act on it, and what happens after. Includes the California protections against landlord retaliation and pointers to the SF Tenants Union and Causa Justa: Just Cause.
What a DBI Notice of Violation means
The difference between a tenant complaint and a city-issued Notice of Violation, the cure period and escalation path, and what it means if you find one on your building. The shorter article to read if a building's report has open NOVs and you are trying to figure out how seriously to take them.
How to read a San Francisco building permit history
What each permit record actually means: the filed-issued-completed lifecycle, common scope-code patterns, how to spot a cosmetic flip versus ongoing maintenance, and what permits do and do not tell you about how a building is cared for between major projects.
The rise of landlord surveillance: vape detectors and what to look for
Smart devices marketed as air-quality sensors and vape detectors are showing up in SF rentals. What they actually capture, the brand names worth recognizing on sight, what to ask the landlord before signing, your rights under California's two-party consent law, and what to do if you find one in a unit you are considering.