On the Level
by Terry F. Meany
As a property owner, maintaining your buildings is to your advantage. This does not suggest perfection—an illusive term in any event—but does suggest a clean, habitable dwelling as well as pre-empting surprises such as a dead furnace on New Year's Eve. These are self-imposed obligations, but the state and city dictate their standards as well. The California Civil Code and San Francisco Housing and Health Codes list your legal responsibilities. These cover plumbing, electrical, heating, protection from the weather, cleanliness and the maintenance of common areas, but it does not end here. Government agencies have some say in other areas as well.
This column and others in the San Francisco Apartment Magazine have mentioned windows and their repair and replacement on several occasions. If your building is considered historically significant, your windows are no longer yours and yours alone. They now belong to the city at large, as well as to every passing citizen and tourist who expects or wants a certain look and appearance. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the passing citizen or tourist is not the one who has to jump through hoops of San Francisco's Planning Department when attempting to upgrade a building. Planners and inspectors get paid for every hour they spend evaluating your plans and submissions; and if they send you back to the drawing board, they get paid when you return with a fresh proposal. You, on the other hand, absorb the cost and that of your contractors and designers until your plans are anointed and approved. All this is over the width of a window muntin (the strip separating the panes of glass in a sash).
Do you own an unreinforced masonry building (UMB)? Congratulations, you might be one of the lucky ones who need to meet seismic upgrade standards as outlined in UMB Ordinance No. 225-92, by February 15, 2006. You are also responsible for financing the repairs. Not sure if you need to be in compliance? Call the Seismic Safety Division at 415-558-6083 and see if you are on the Department of Building Inspection's master list of 2,000 UMBs in the city. The city has tried to help with the establishment in 1992 of a $350 million fund to assist property owners, but only $35 million has been loaned out to date. The San Francisco Business Times (June 11, 2004) cites unwieldy loan requirements, high interest rates and a lack of promotion for the fund's underused state, although the city now claims to be making changes to the fund and, thus, it should be more accessible.
Are there any trees around your property? The Department of Public Works, Bureau of Urban Forestry, is “committed to a policy of maintaining and expanding a diverse population of street trees as an essential component of the urban forest in San Francisco.” They are also committed to your footing the bill for a good portion of those trees. If you have trees or a tree basin—the area of the sidewalk removed for tree planting—then there are rules to follow regarding planting, pruning and removal, even if the tree is hazardous or dead. In fact, you need a permit to plant or remove a street tree, and the department helpfully recommends “that the Permittee carry adequate liability insurance for his/her own protection…”
Even Mayor Newsom admitted tree responsibility is a little confusing when he noted, during his 2003 campaign, that “Responsibility for tree care along city streets is a mix of city and private functions, which leads to confusion over who should care for which trees. Over a dozen agencies have some landscaping function in San Francisco…” The mayor likes trees and wants to see more of them planted, but will he make it any easier?
Most of us like trees, and the city fairly enough restricts the location of new street trees in order not to block traffic signs, pedestrian access or interfere with underground utilities. If you are not interested in trees and have an empty tree basin, tough luck—you have to plant a tree or face an “In Lieu” fee of $560. And if any of the roots of your trees damage the sidewalk—you have to repair that, too. San Francisco Municipal Code Section 706 makes sidewalk maintenance your responsibility. This maintenance includes filling in or repairing any unused subbasements under your frontage sidewalk, repairing cracks or any sections uplifted (say, by tree roots) and daily cleaning. Your tenants parking on the sidewalk might not be your specific responsibility (they are subject to a parking citation, not you), but if the sidewalk becomes unstable and cracks due to the stress from parked cars, guess who pays for the repairs?
In New York City, the city is frequently sued over trip-and-fall cases involving allegedly poorly maintained streets and sidewalks. Plaintiff lawyers have gone so far as to create the Big Apple Pothole and Sidewalk Protection Committee, which has the city’s sidewalks surveyed by a mapping company. A list of defects, along with maps, is given to the city as advance notice to strengthen future lawsuits. Sounds like a custom-made business for an out-of-work Bay Area dot-commer with a digital camera and a handy-dandy Blackberry.
Norman Mailer once thought graffiti was a “manifestation of social freedom” by the disadvantaged. Bully for him. I suspect his building's custodian wipes it clean before he takes his morning stroll. The Department of Public Works sees it differently and can cite owners who fail to remove graffiti or to cooperate with the department in its removal.
Windows, trees, sidewalks, seismic upgrades and graffiti are all laudable concerns for the city, as well as for property owners. The question is when do these concerns become an onerous imposition by a governing body that is not paying the tab but expects private parties to do so? It is one thing for a homeowners' association, to limit a homeowner's options regarding paint colors and room additions. It is quite another for a city department to impose restrictions due to aesthetics and mandate repairs and upkeep on what is arguably public property, all the while limiting what can be done on private property.
Summertime Roof Leaks
Who thinks about roof leaks or repairs in the summer?
Not enough
people, unfortunately. Now is the time to do a roof
inspection and patch and repair your roof where needed.
Check for cracks and separations at chimneys and vents.
Replace any badly corroded flashing. Once the rain
starts, finding an available roofer becomes problematic.
The same is true for your heating system. Servicing it when you do
not need it is a lot easier than when the tenants start calling,
complaining that they can see their breath vaporize and are not too
happy about it.
Mold-Free Vinyl Windows
Comments on windows and paint brought out the traditionalist
in at least one reader who does not like either vinyl
windows or latex paint for some applications. Vinyl
windows, he claimed, allowed mold and mildew growth
that spread to the surrounding areas and the same
with latex paint in his bathrooms. I wrote back that I had never
seen anything growing on vinyl windows, but I had not taken any surveys
either. I can attest to living with them for ten mold-free years
and am grateful for not having to paint them. Same with three bathrooms,
all painted with latex satin finish. There is no going back now in
any event. Painting walls with oil paint these days is as rare as
a thoughtful politician. If you have any concerns over mildew or
mold, clean the walls thoroughly and add some fungicide to your paint.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Terry F. Meany is a former contractor and landlord. He is now a full-time writer and author of Working Windows: A Guide to the Repair and Restoration of Wood Windows, published by Lyons Press. He's cost conscious, but not cheap, and knows deferred maintenance always costs more in the end. He can be reached at tfmeany@msn.com. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.