The City of San Francisco is suing a Castro duplex owner over multiple violations ranging from drug-related offenses to housing and building code violations.

According to Socketsite, the property, located at 517-519 Sanchez St., has been raided multiple times, resulting in the arrests of the property owner and tenants, as well as the confiscation of crystal meth, heroin, ketamine, and cocaine.

While violations of the California Drug Abatement Act could be as high as $25,000, an entirely different component of the suit involves ongoing housing violations. Issues like improper wiring, defective staircases, missing smoke detectors, lack of heat, and unpermitted construction could all result in daily penalties of up to $1,500.

The owner, who purchased the property in 1995 for $440,000 and then briefly listed the property in 2013 for $1.8M before taking it off the market, could also be forced to shutter the building for a year if the suit is successful.

We reached out to District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener for comment on the issue.

"Blatant disregard of public safety codes and regulations is not acceptable," he said. "These blighted properties significantly detract from the safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods. For this reason, I recently introduced legislation to significantly reform the City’s code enforcement efforts, including standardizing the methodology for referring cases to the City Attorney’s office for litigation and providing additional tools and accountability for city department enforcement efforts."

We'll keep readers updated on the status of the suit and any further information as we receive it.

Update, 11/24/15: A press release from the Office of the City Attorney names Joel Elliott as the defendant in the case, and provides more details of the ongoing issues at the property documented in the suit.

From City Attorney Dennis Herrera's statement in the case:

“This property has been a neighborhood nuisance for far too long. Not only has the owner failed to comply with numerous orders to fix code violations at the property, he has harbored illegal drug activity there for years. His conduct endangers the health, welfare and safety of neighbors, and drains the City of resources to adequately patrol other parts of the City. With today’s lawsuit, we intend to bring this defendant to justice, and also send a message to other would-be scofflaws that the City won’t tolerate this kind of lawlessness.”



Explore the full complaint, which makes for an interesting read, here.

