Renters' Rights in San Francisco (don't read if eating!)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...id=39432&tsp=1
The most disgusting court case we've reported on to date
It's not "Pacific Heights," but it's a mighty bizarre landlord-tenant dispute.
(Don't keep reading if you're eating lunch at the computer.)
Landlord George David has gone to court to evict a tenant who was living amid so much feces and urine in his apartment at 2857 Bush St. that it led an $18,000 bill from a crime-scene cleanup company to abate a health hazard, court documents show.
At least feces weren't involved.
The unsanitary conditions also led to tenant Todd McCullough getting his feet amputated after gout in his leg became infected and he developed gangrene, according to court filings.
But McCullough wants to stay in the apartment he's lived in for the last 16 years and says the landlord is illegally trying to evict him in violation of state law and San Francisco's rent control ordinance.
McCullough says he's being discriminated against because of a disability -- gout, and now his lack of feet -- and that David's true motive is to evict him so he can jack up the $750-a-month rent on a new tenant.
David's attorney, Hilary Hedemark, says the case is straightforward: McCullough "caused a life-threatening biohazard to exist at the premises" in violation of his lease, ignored requests to clean it up and failed to pay rent.
An upstairs neighbor complained about what they thought was a dead animal smell, and another neighbor who went to check on McCullough on Jan. 16 said inside the apartment "the stench was unbearable," court documents show.
There were feces smeared on the walls, floor, doors, counters, mattress, sofa and throughout the bathroom, according to the clean-up company. A neighbor saw feces smeared about and what appeared to be plastic bags, glass jars and a trash can all filled with urine.
Beyond the clean up, there was more than $10,000 in repairs to the floors, appliances, windows and elsewhere, David's attorneys say.
McCullough contends he was unable to maintain the property as he wanted because of his gout, and says David "greatly exaggerated the degree of damage."
The city's Health Department issued two notices to abate unsanitary conditions, though, and photos in the court file are not pretty.
The trial starts Monday.
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Re: Renters' Rights in San Francisco (don't read if eating!)
Originally Posted by ЭТО Я
