SF eviction: before, during, and after
August 19, 2012 11:06 PM   Subscribe

A troubled tenant in my San Francisco building is at risk of eviction. How will this unfold?

I am a San Francisco resident. The tenant of an adjacent apartment is unemployed, disabled, and lives alone. He has occupied the rent-controlled unit for the past eight or so years. I have never seen him, but he is prone to very loud and aggressive bouts of late-night shouting and pounding sounds. Then there are the "disturbances," the last of which found him hurling the contents of his room from an upper-story window. The police have been called on him many times over the past several years. Everyone wants him out and the threat of eviction looms.

My question has three parts:
1. Assuming eviction, where next for the tenant? Is he bound to restart the cycle in a less developed neighborhood, get placed in temporary housing, or go to jail?
2. What must the landlord do to see him evicted? The police agree that his behavior is disruptive and illegal, but what exactly serves as evidence of "substantial interference" per 37.9 of the rent ordinance?
3. Does the landlord assume any costs or liabilities when evicting a tenant as a nuisance, particularly one with health or financial hardship?

Experiences and anecdotes welcome. YANML, but neither do I need one. It is the landlord's legal concern at this point; I'm merely curious and concerned.
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (1 answer total)
 
I think the answer to your first question depends on his support network, if any. Based on your description, it doesn't sound like he's in therapy but you can't really know. Maybe his therapist will get him into a group home, or maybe he has a daughter who is compassionate enough to get him help and let him live with her. I suspect that this may be how many of the mentally ill homeless become homeless. I also think that if he were to go to jail as a result of his disruptive behavior, he would be arrested when the cops are called to the apartment - not after he's evicted for being disruptive (but I don't know anything about SF evictions).

For answers to your second and third questions, you could probably dive into the landlord tenant laws in your area. Even though you're not involved at all with this guy, you should read up on the laws anyway so you know what your rights are.

Although it probably goes without saying, and nothing in your post indicates you will do this, but stay out of it. Call the cops as you need to, but stay away from this guy. He sounds like a hot mess.
posted by youngergirl44 at 6:18 AM on August 20, 2012


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