Free SF apartment background check

530 Lake St

Lake Street, SF 94118 1352021 12 units · 3 fl · 1925

This building has far more open problems than almost any other in the neighborhood. A handful of unresolved issues. Worth a careful walk-through and pointed questions.

NOVs (7y) vs. neighborhood
Compared to a typical building in Lake Street
At or below average
avg 0.6
0
FewerMore

This building has 0 novs (7y), at or below the Lake Street average of 0.6.

Rent & eviction protection

Is 530 Lake St rent-controlled?

San Francisco's Rent Ordinance caps rent increases and provides eviction protection for most residential units built before 1979 with 2+ units. Here's how this building scores.

Built before 1979
Built 1925
2 or more units
12 units
Property type
Multi-Family Residential
Zoning
RM2
Likely rent-controlled. Building age and unit count suggest this property falls under San Francisco's Rent Ordinance.

Based on SF Assessor records. Not legal advice — confirm with the SF Rent Board.

Building characteristics
Units12
Floors3
Year built1925
Total area8,775 sq ft
Property typeMulti-Family Residential
Tax statusNone
Blocklot1352021
Ownership

Registered owner per SF Assessor-Recorder (secured roll).

Owner name
Mecham Family Ltd Ptnrshp
Mailing address
Rodney Chen Peninsula Mgmt Po Box 590724 San Francisco CA 94159
Last sale
062100

Landlord portfolio

Other SF properties this owner holds, with risk grades for each.

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Augrented Insights
Initial analysis

530 Lake Street is a 12-unit, 3-story multi-family residential building constructed in 1925, currently owned by Mecham Family Ltd Partnership. The property has undergone significant safety-related improvements in recent years, including a complete fire alarm system upgrade in 2024 ($43,970), bay window reinforcement in 2021 ($40,000), garage ceiling strengthening in 2020 ($30,000), and completion of a mandatory soft-story retrofit in 2017 ($85,000). The building has experienced periodic fire safety issues, with recent fire complaints in 2024 (alarm systems) and 2022 (extinguishers), though all were marked as "Condition Corrected." Historical records show multiple violations in 2004 related to fire safety and plumbing/electrical systems, all of which were abated by September 2004.

Recent maintenance activities reflect ongoing attention to structural integrity and safety systems, including the installation of low-frequency sounders in sleeping areas as part of the 2024 fire alarm upgrade, and various electrical and roofing work. The building's history includes several maintenance issues from the 1990s, such as termite repair (1999) and roofing work (1993), as well as two significant plumbing-related complaints in 1994 regarding water heater problems and flooring issues. Since then, major infrastructure improvements like the soft-story retrofit and fire alarm system upgrades demonstrate compliance with modern safety standards. The property has experienced recurring issues with parking enforcement, as evidenced by multiple citations for driveway blocking between 2023 and 2025, though these are external to the building's structure and systems.

AI-generated · may contain errors · check the source data tables below

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Risk rating

How 530 Lake St's risk score is calculated

We trained a model on 7 years of SF DBI inspection data — notice of violation filings, complaint history, and owner track records. It estimates the probability that DBI inspectors will issue a Notice of Violation at this address in the next 12 months. Lower % = safer.

What the score means for you

Grade A–B — Low risk

DBI rarely finds violations here. Strong maintenance history and a clean complaint record.

Grade C — Moderate risk

Some past violations or complaints on record. Worth asking the landlord about any open issues before signing.

Grade D–F — High risk

Elevated violation and complaint history. DBI has found issues here before and is statistically likely to again.

Neighborhood percentile
6th percentile

Out of 660 buildings in this neighborhood, 620 are predicted to be safer.

RiskiestSafest
Predicted 12-month outcome
41%
No DBI
violation
59%
DBI violation
likely
Model explanation

What's driving this score

The three data points that most influenced this building's risk rating — ranked by the weight the model placed on each one.

Building size

Total floor area — a proxy for building scale and the number of systems (plumbing, electrical, HVAC) that can fail.

Number of units

The number of units affects how the model reads complaint and violation totals — more units means more potential sources.

Building age

Older buildings tend to have more maintenance challenges; SF's pre-1906 earthquake housing stock carries distinct risk.

12-Month severity forecast
No violation 33.9%
Moderate concern 44.3%
Severe concern 21.9%
Estimated probability of receiving a DBI Notice of Violation in the next 12 months at each severity level. Model: full_hgb_balanced.
Apartment reviews

530 Lake St apartment reviews

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The story over time

530 Lake St event timeline

Violations, complaints, fire incidents, permits, and buyouts — most recent records in order.

2026
Fire Complaint Feb 28
Electrical Systems
No Merit

See all 12 events

Full history back to 2019 — violations, complaints, permits, buyouts, and fire incidents.

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Every record we have

Full data for 530 Lake St apartments

13 SF public datasets for this parcel — permits, violations, complaints, fire records, 311 calls, planning records, and buyouts.

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Cancel anytime · Data sourced from SF Open Data, DBI, SFFD, SF Rent Board & Planning

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