This Letter From A San Francisco Landlord Is A Completely Depressing Glimpse Into The State Of Local Rental Market
Renting an apartment is no easy - or cheap - task. There are broker fees, security deposits, credit checks, and the list goes on (and on, and on.) It's enough to make you tired just thinking about it, let alone actually going through with the process.
But some San Francisco residents got an extreme punch in the gut when this letter was slipped under their door last month:
Andrew Dudley, who writes for the site Hoodline, says "a reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent in the above letter, which was slipped under the door of every unit in his rent-controlled building near Haight and Fillmore [in San Francisco] recently."
The building policy/requirement of a current apartment applicant/resident is that they are able to establish that their minimum annual income is at least $100,000 - additionally required is a minimum FICO credit score of 725.
We are not able to accept in our minimum income calculation any form of 'guarantor' or similar form of 'guarantee' offered of account of the apartment/resident applicant, by a friend of family member nor any other person or legal entity.
Of course, more is required to qualify an apartment/resident/applicant, than income and credit score; but a minimum income and credit score requirement is a basic starting point.
Dudley says his tipster believes the letter may have come after a few of the building residents began to fight the management company in question.
Sites like SFGate describe Lower Haight as a neighborhood that "evokes images of the long-gone '60s hippie culture" mixed with "exclusive boutiques, high-end vintage-clothing shops, second-hand stores, Internet cafés and hip restaurants."
"Neo-punks, club kids, fashionistas, tourists and neighborhood folks are equally at home here, whether they have come to get a new piercing, grab a burrito, find the latest drum 'n' bass 12-inch or just people-watch from a café," SFGate concludes.
In short, it's hardly San Francisco's answer to Manhattan's Upper East Side. But this letter from a landlord seems to hint that the times, they are a-changing.
"While minimum income and credit score requirements such as these are legal," Dudley writes, "it's striking that a six-figure salary is now required just to meet the minimum standard for a rental in the neighborhood."
Business Insider has reached out to several management companies in the Lower Haight area of San Francisco for comment.