Bullied by San Francisco

Eduardo133
Level 1
San Francisco, CA

Bullied by San Francisco

I've been hosting my 300sq ft cottage on Airbnb for about 2 years.  I live on the property with my sister and own nothing else in San Francisco.  Ive lived in SF my entire 33 years of life and want to stay.

 

I know all my neighbors well and they all know I host guests 2-3 times a month and not a single guest has ever done more than sleep and work.

 

This ability allows me to share my cottage with visiting family and and friends several times a year and not struggle to rent it which would be hard even I'm SF for a 300 square foot cottage.

 

Instead of pointing at people with multiple listings, those whom have evicted tenants, people renting several apartments just to Airbnb, or people converting apartment buildings......San Francisco decided to attach a large orange penalty on my door after I tried 2 times to register with a fine saying I did not register for short term rentals.

 

The cottage utilities all come through my own.  I live here every single day and the cottage is tiny and attached to nothing as not to disturb anyone around.  Seeing as I know all my neighbors and they are all OK with this that's not a surprise.

 

 

So why is it that after trying to register twice, after filing to pay taxes yearly on the items I've purchased in my cottage and being an upstanding family citizen of San Francisco for 33 years that they think I'm the reason rent is high and nobody can live here?

 

 

San Francisco is trying to sway votes by labeling all Airbnb hosts and landlords, even the small struggling ones, as criminals.  Conveniently pointing the finger away from local government which has failed it's own people for the past 50 years.

 

Thanks for loving me and my family back after 65 years San Francisco.   You are doing a great job.

 

 

3 Replies 3
Dee33
Level 10
Reston, VA

It's legal in San Francisco if you register. What happened that you could not complete the registration?

Coté-And-Arturo0
Level 1
San Francisco, CA

Eduardo

We are in the same situation right now.. WE have never rented anything without us being here. 

How did you solve this?

Did you fill all the forms for the Tax collector then went to beg for a meeting at the Office of Short Term PLanning to get a license ?

The paperwork they are asking is worst than dealing with taxes... 

And they donot seem to coordinate, they have all the information about the properties, why they need so much extra information ? 

 

Maria & Arturo

Did you resolve this? We live in the house and airbnb a portion of the home - do you have any good advice?