Anne Kihagi, owner of 50 rent-controlled units, bullied tenants, many of them elderly
A Superior Court Judge leveled a $2.4 million penalty on San Francisco landlord Anne Kihagi today, finding that Kihagi harassed, exploited, and wrongfully evicted tenants in the many rent-controlled buildings she owns.
The city sued Kihagi in 2015. Among many other charges, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said:
Kihagi or her agents interrupted gas, electric, water, and cable service; disrupted mail service; failed to cash rent checks only to later claim them as untimely; backdated correspondence and notices; violated tenants’ privacy by entering their apartments without required notice […] and even retaliated against tenants who cooperated with city inspectors by installing video surveillance cameras aimed at the residents’ front doors.
Kihagi, who began buying up San Francisco properties in 2013, even threatened a tenant’s cat, according to the suit. Herrera noted that many of the tenants were elderly, including a “bedridden 91-year-old great grandmother.”
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