Ex-S.F. worker-turned-landlord to pay record fine S.F. HOUSING

"There are dozens of families, children, seniors and individuals that have been subjected to the deplorable living conditions for decades," said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who announced the settlement Monday and whose district includes many of the troubled properties. File photo of Malia Cohen in 2010. less "There are dozens of families, children, seniors and individuals that have been subjected to the deplorable living conditions for decades," said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who announced the settlement Monday and ... more Photo: Ali Thanawalla, SFGate Photo: Ali Thanawalla, SFGate Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Ex-S.F. worker-turned-landlord to pay record fine 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A former city employee let his San Francisco renters live with raw sewage spills, flooding, extensive mold and mildew, buckled floors, rodent infestations, crumbling walls and ceilings, and dry-rotted stairs for more than a decade.

The problems with the rental units were so extensive that since 2001 the Department of Building Inspections logged 467 code violations at more than half of the 32 properties owned by Bayview Property Managers, whose president, James Blanding, retired as a civil engineer with San Francisco's Department of Public Works in 1972.

Monday the city announced Bayview Property Managers agreed to pay an $800,000 civil fine - the largest on record for building code violations.

Many of the problems with the 137 housing units were concentrated in the city's southeastern neighborhoods, home to many low-income residents.

"There are dozens of families, children, seniors and individuals that have been subjected to the deplorable living conditions for decades," said Supervisor Malia Cohen, who announced the settlement Monday and whose district includes many of the troubled properties.

She said that Bayview Property Managers used "sophisticated efforts to contest and evade the law" almost every time a notice of violation and order of abatement was issued. The city sued and a settlement was approved last month.

Blanding has until Sept. 15 to correct all the violations and agreed to annual inspections of his properties for the next five years. He also won't be allowed to make the repairs himself.

"We hope that negligent landlords everywhere will see this case, see the settlement, and take note," said James Sanbonmatsu, a building inspector who has worked on the case.

Tenant horror stories

News of the settlement was a relief to tenants who've endured years of poor living conditions.

Vela Valentino has lived at one of the properties for three years. She pays $830 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment on Revere Avenue. "There's always something wrong with it. Always," said Valentino, 26, who lives with her 3-year-old child.

Her sinks and toilets have chronically leaked and overflowed, flooding her apartment.

"I needed rain boots to walk in my apartment," she said of the most egregious incident. "I went to work, I came home, and it looked like somebody built a swimming pool in my bathroom, in my living room and my kitchen."

She said it took more than five months for the repairs to be completed. The moisture created a bad mold problem. The water damage was so severe that the ceiling of the unit below caved in. The landlord said he fixed the problem, but the ceiling fell down again.

"It's hard when you're a single mom, and you're trying to do the right thing, trying to keep it together, and the landlord makes it really hard for you," she said.

Building inspectors said that when repairs were made, the work was often shoddy. Some fixes were made with duct tape.

Valentino, a drug and alcohol counselor, said she wants to move but hasn't been able to find another affordable rental.

Raw sewage

Kandace Davis lived in one of the problem properties on Oakdale Avenue, but in November gave up her $952-a-month one-bedroom apartment and, with her two children, moved in with relatives.

Her biggest complaint was the raw sewage that flowed outside her building. Then there was the pervasive mold in her apartment, which led to a chronic asthma problem for her daughter, she said.

"Generally, he just didn't have any sympathy or any urgency when I was giving him the complaints about what was going on," said Davis, 28, who works as a community outreach worker for the city's Department of the Environment.

Blanding, a state-licensed contractor, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. But his attorney, David Zalob, said his client will make the necessary repairs.

"The settlement reflects the commitment by Bayview to get the properties in full compliance" with the building codes, he said. He described Blanding as "a very fine man" who couldn't keep up with cascading city inspections and code violations.

Blanding recently retained Lightner Property Group as a property management consultant. Bill Lightner, president of the firm, said he will help put property management protocol in place. For example, Bayview Property Managers should start conducting routine inspections on its own to identify and fix problems quickly.

"It's our job to put some training wheels on their bicycle and teach them some new techniques of property management," Lightner said.