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101-109 21St Ave

Lake Street, SF 94121 1381001 10 units · 2 fl · 1917

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 101-109 21St Ave 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 1917
2 or more units
10 units
Property type
Multi-Family Residential
Zoning
RH2
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
Units10
Floors2
Year built1917
Total area7,480 sq ft
Property typeMulti-Family Residential
Tax statusNone
Blocklot1381001
Ownership

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

Owner name
Ford Trust
Mailing address
Claudette R Ford 524 24Th Ave San Francisco CA 94121
Last sale
000000

Landlord portfolio

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

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Multiple entrances & addresses

Included addresses

All street addresses sharing this blocklot that are covered by this report.

109 21st Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
103 21st Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
101 21st Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
107 21st Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
105 21st Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
Augrented Insights
Initial analysis

The two-story, ten-unit multi-family residential building at 101-109 21st Avenue, built in 1917 and currently owned by Ford Trust, has undergone significant safety and infrastructure improvements in recent years. Most notably, in 2023, the building completed a comprehensive upgrade to its fire alarm system to comply with San Francisco Fire Code requirements, including the installation of low-frequency sounders in sleeping areas and new compatible devices. The building also completed a mandatory soft-story retrofit in 2017 to improve seismic safety, demonstrating compliance with San Francisco's building safety requirements. Electrical infrastructure improvements are ongoing, with a new main service disconnect installation scheduled for July 2024, following previous updates including kitchen rewiring work in 2020 and a new subpanel installation in 2023.

Recent maintenance issues have been documented, including leaks and water-related problems. In 2023, complaints were filed regarding mold, mildew, and window leaks, and more recently in September 2024, additional kitchen leak complaints were recorded. The building's history includes a set of violations from 2004 related to ventilation, fire safety, and plumbing issues, though these were all abated by June 2004. The property has maintained regular inspections and undergone various infrastructure improvements over the years, including a house trap replacement in 2021 and water service upgrades in 2018. Recent 311 calls between 2024-2025 primarily relate to parking enforcement and street cleaning issues outside the building, rather than internal building concerns. While a sprinkler/standpipe systems complaint was made in August 2023, it was determined to have "No Merit" or was "Condition Corrected" according to fire records.

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

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Risk rating

How 101-109 21St Ave'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
4th percentile

Out of 660 buildings in this neighborhood, 634 are predicted to be safer.

RiskiestSafest
Predicted 12-month outcome
36%
No DBI
violation
64%
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.

Number of units

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

Building size

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

DBI tenant complaints (past 7 years)

Formal complaints tenants filed with DBI about this building over 7 years.

12-Month severity forecast
No violation 27.3%
Moderate concern 55.4%
Severe concern 17.3%
Estimated probability of receiving a DBI Notice of Violation in the next 12 months at each severity level. Model: full_hgb_balanced.
Apartment reviews

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The story over time

101-109 21St Ave event timeline

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

2026
311 Request Jun 06
Landscaping
backfill tree basin
311 RequestMar 13
Damaged tree

See all 19 events

Full history back to 2020 — violations, complaints, permits, buyouts, and fire incidents.

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Every record we have

Full data for 101-109 21St Ave 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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