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SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING DEPARTMENT

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1650 Mission St.

Suite 400
San Francisco,
CA 94103-2479

September 10, 2015

Reception:
415.558.6378

Ana Schrank
761 14~ Avenue
San Francisco, CA

Fax:
415.558.6409

NOTICE OF DECISION
SF Administrative Code Chapter 41A Short Term Residential Rental

Site Address:
Assessors Block/Lot:
Zoning District:
Complaint Number:
Hearing Officer:

Planning
Information:
415.558.6377

759-761 14th Avenue

1657/009
RH-2(Residential- House,Two Family)Zoning District
12610_ENF
Adrian C.Putra,(415)575-9079 or adrian.}~utra@sfgov.org

DECISION
that Ana Schrank, owner of
The Director's appointed hearing officer, Adrian C. Putra, has determined
offering dwelling unit at 761
759-61 14~ Street has violated Administrative Code Chapter 41A for illegally
The details of the violation
14th Avenue for rent as a Tourist or Transient use (a.k.a. short term rental).
and decision are discussed below.
including but not limited to
This decision is based on the entirety of the record before the hearing officer,
d by Planning Department
testimony of witnesses and the responsible party and information submitte
be found at 1650 Mission Street,
staff, the responsible party/ies, and other witnesses. The record. may
is summarized below, this
Suite 400, San Francisco. Although factual information from the record
decision is based on the record as a whole.

DESCRIPTION OF VIOLATION
759A 14~ Avenue, and 761 14~
The subject property appears to be a three unit building (759 14~ Avenue,
2013, alleging that unauthorized
Avenue). The Planning Department received a complaint on August 13,
short term rental activity was occurring at the property.

UNLAWFUL CONVERSION
offering of residential units for
Chapter 41A of the San Francisco Administrative Code prohibits the
units are registered on the
Tourist or Transient use (which is a rental for less than 30 days), unless the

www.sfplanning,org

759-761 14~ Avenue

Complaint No. 12610_ENF

Chapter 41A Notice of Decision

September 10, 2015

Short-term Residential Rental Registry. Under Administrative Code Section.

41A.6, if the Hearing Officer
determines that a violation has occurred, an administrative penalty shall be
assessed as follows:
1. For the initial violation, not more than four times the standard hourly
administrative rate of
$121.00 for each unlawfully converted unit, or for each identified failure of
a Hosting Platform to
comply with the requirements of subsection (g)(4), per day from the notice
of Complaint until
such time as the unlawful activity terminates;
2. For the second violation by the same Owner(s), Business Entity, or Hosting
Platform, not more
than eight times the standard hourly administrative rate of $121.00 for each
unlawfully converted
unit, or for each identified failure of a Hosting Platform to comply with the
requirements of
subsection (g)(4), per day from the day the unlawful activity commenced
until such time as the
unlawful activity terminates; and
3. For the third and any subsequent violation by the same Owner(s), Business
Entity, or Hosting
Platform, not more than twelve times the standard hourly administrative
rate of $121.00 for each
unlawfully converted unit or for each identified failure of a Hosting Platform
to comply with the
requirements of subsection (g)(4) per day.from the day the unlawful activity
commenced until
such time as the unlawful activity terminates.

COMPLAINT AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

On August 14, 2013, Planning Department staff received a complaint
that unauthorized short-term
residential rental activity was occurring at the subject property. Planning
Department staff investigated
the complaint under Planning Code Section 176 and found that two out of
the three units at the subject
property, were being offered as short-term rentals on a nightly or weekly
basis through hosting platform
website VRBO (www.vrbo.com). Planning Department staff has worked
to bring this property into
compliance utilizing the enforcement mechanisms under Planning Code Section
176 with no success.
On June 29, 2015, staff investigated the complaint under Administrative Code
online listing on VRBO advertising two units in the building as one "entire

Section 41A and found one

unit" for short term rental.

NOTICE OF COMPLAINT AND APPARENT VIOLATION

On June 30, 2015, s#aff issues a Notice of Complaint to the property owner
by certified and non-certified
mail
On July 1, 2015, staff posted the Notice of Complaint at the subject property
notifying the owner of the
hearing.

ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING
On August 12, 2015, the hearing officer convened the administrative hearing.
All testifying witnesses
were sworn in and the hearing was audio recorded. The hearing was attended
by the following people:
Mr. Adrian Putra, hearing Officer
Ms. Audrey Butkus, staff Planner
Ms. Ana Schrank, property owner
Mr. Fidel Gakuba, property owner

SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING DEPARTMENT

759-761 14~ Avenue

Complaint No. 12610_ENF

Chapter 41A Notice of Decision

September 10, 2015

Ms. Butkus, staff planner gave the following testimony:

Between August 13, 2013 and until June 28, 2015, staff attempted to bring the property into
compliance utilizing the mechanism of Planning Code Section 176, which included issuing a
courtesy notice, issuing an Enforcement Notification, meeting with the property owner at the site
to explain the violation and necessary remedies for compliance, issuing a Notice of Violation and
Penalties letter, issuing multiple Notice of Penalties letters when the host become unresponsive to
staff's prior notices and attempts to contact. Throughout this time the listing for the property
offering two of the units for short-term stays remained active. The property owner had not

responded to staff's notices or attempts to contact for over one year.

On June 29, 2015, staff investigated the complaint under Administrative Code Section 41A and
found one online listing on VRBO advertising two units in the building as one "entire unit" for
short term rental.
On July 11,2015, staff found that the propert~s online listing on VRBO has been removed.

Ms. Schrank, property owner gave the following testimony:

The dwelling unit at 761 14~ Avenue is owner-occupied and that they originally moved into the
unit in 2007. The dwelling unit at 759 14~ Avenue has either been vacant or tenant-occupied.
The bottom dwelling unit at 759A 14~ Avenue has had long-term tenants almost continuously.
Ms. Schrank was given a temporary assignment by her company a couple of years ago which
required her to spend an increasing amount of time in Atlanta. For the first eight months of her

assignment she traveled back and forth between San Francisco and Atlanta, and when this
became unsustainable .her family moved to Atlanta on a short term basis. Up until then her
children were enrolled in San Francisco schools and her husband worked in San Francisco.
As of January 1, 2015, her family moved back to 761 14~ Avenue, because Ms. Schrank's
temporary assignment had ended.
The short term rentals only occurred in the unit at 761 14~ Avenue.
The unit at 759 14th Avenue is currently vacant.
The VRBO listing discovered by staff on June 29, 2015 was only for the unit at 761 14th Avenue.
The listing for 761 14~ Avenue was automatically removed by VRBO,because the owners did not
plan on conducting future short term rentals and decided to let their current 12 month
subscription to list on VRBO to expire.

Additionally, Ms.Schrank presented the hearing officer with an online receipt of rental payment from her
tenant at 759A 14th Avenue.

POST-HEARING SUBMISSION
Ms. Schrank submitted additional information on August 14, 2015. A summary of the submittal is below:
A receipt dated July 9, 2014, for their 12-month subscription to list on VRBO, which has since
expired.
A screen shot dated July 13, 2015, of their VRBO account showing that the order status to renew
their 12-month subscription is "Unpaid."

SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING DEPMTMENT

759-761 14th Avenue

Complaint No. 12610_ENF

Chapter 41A Notice of Decision

September 10, 2015

FINDINGS
Based on the review of the record as a whole, the hearing officer finds as follows:
1. That the property owners are currently occupying the dwelling at 761 14th Avenue.
2. That the dwelling at 761 14~ Avenue was offered for Tourist or Transient use until July 10, 2015.
3. 'That the online listing on VRBO for the dwelling at 761 14t" Avenue was removed as of July 11,
2015.
4. That the dwelling at 759 14~ Avenue is currently vacant.
5. That the dwelling at 759A 14~ Avenue is occupied by a tenant.

CONCLUSION AND ORDER

Based on the above findings and the evidence in the record as a whole, the hearing officer determines that
the dwelling unit at 761 14~ Avenue was offered for Tourist or Transient through July 10, 2015 in
violation of Administrative Code Chapter 41A. Because this is an initial violation, the hearing officer may
assess administrative penalties from the date of the Notice of Complaint (here June 30, 2015) until the
date the violation is cured (here July 10, 2015) on both a per diem and per unit basis. Thus, by this
determination the hearing officer assesses administrative penalties against the property owners for a total
of 11 days at a rate of $484 per day. Accordingly, administrative penalties for the total amount of
$5,324.00, is now due to the Planning Department. Please submit'a check for the total amount of
$5,324.00, payable to "Planning Deparhnent Code Enforcement Fund" immediately. Please be aware
that curing the violation of Administrative Code Chapter 41A does not absolve the owner of accrued
penalties for the violation assessed when enforced under Planning Code Section 176.

Sincerely,

Adrian C. Putra
Hearing Officer

Cc: Audrey Butkus, Planner, Office of Short Term Rentals

SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING DEPARTMENT