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Indybay Feature
Sunset Community Activist Wins Owner Move-In Trial
A local jury voted 11-1 yesterday to save the home of Susan Suval, a disabled tenant who has lived in her Sunset home for 26 years – after concluding that the landlord did not have a “good-faith” intent to move in. Even in San Francisco, owner move-in evictions can be difficult for tenants to win at trial because it generally boils down to the parties’ credibility – and there’s a prevailing feeling towards the right to live in your own property. Despite the City’s two-thirds tenant majority, the jury in question had six tenants and six homeowners and took only two hours to deliberate.
Suval’s landlord, Mark O’Flynn (a real estate broker) claimed that he wanted to move into her apartment in the Outer Sunset because his home in Daly City had been gutted for repairs. But O’Flynn was renting an apartment in the Richmond District at the time, owns a vacation home in Guerneville, and also rents an additional apartment on Union Street that he uses as an office.
O’Flynn also told his landlord in the Union Street property that he intended to continue living there, with the purpose of preserving his rent controlled rate. But at trial, he testified that he had moved out. This could raise other problems for him – as the rent ordinance exempts “pied-a-terre” apartments from rent control. Mr. O’Flynn could be facing a substantial rent increase.
In 2005, O’Flynn received $27,000 from the City – as part of a program where residential landlords agree to remove lead paint from the homes of low and moderate-income tenants. As part of the program, O’Flynn agreed to keep renting his Sunset property to Suval for five years. While he was entitled to opt out of the contract, he could only do so by paying the City back – which he has not done.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4290#more
O’Flynn also told his landlord in the Union Street property that he intended to continue living there, with the purpose of preserving his rent controlled rate. But at trial, he testified that he had moved out. This could raise other problems for him – as the rent ordinance exempts “pied-a-terre” apartments from rent control. Mr. O’Flynn could be facing a substantial rent increase.
In 2005, O’Flynn received $27,000 from the City – as part of a program where residential landlords agree to remove lead paint from the homes of low and moderate-income tenants. As part of the program, O’Flynn agreed to keep renting his Sunset property to Suval for five years. While he was entitled to opt out of the contract, he could only do so by paying the City back – which he has not done.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4290#more
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