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Board trims plumbing‑permit penalty for tenant who made emergency repair
Summary
After hearing that an emergency repair led to unpermitted plumbing work, the Board of Appeals reduced the Department of Building Inspection’s nine‑times fee penalty for Nelson Diaz. Following debate on precedent and fairness, the board ultimately reduced the penalty to two times the standard fee.
The San Francisco Board of Appeals on Feb. 24 reduced a DBI penalty assessed for plumbing work done without a permit at 839 London Street. Department and plumbing‑inspection staff explained the penalty calculation framework and confirmed the work had been done without an approved permit; the owner said the repairs were emergency work to restore water to tenants.
DBI’s Joseph Duffy explained that the penalty is assessed as a multiple of the base permit fee and that nine‑times penalties are common for unpermitted work. Appellant Nelson Diaz said he undertook emergency repairs to keep water flowing for elderly tenants and did not intend to evade permitting requirements.
Commissioners discussed precedent and the fairness of reducing penalties when a tenant or agent undertook work for an owner’s building. Commissioner Fung moved to overrule DBI and reduce the multiplier to the minimum allowable (2×); after an initial roll the board’s tally was adjusted and the final vote was 4–1 in favor of reducing the penalty to two times the regular fee.
The board instructed staff to send a plain‑language notice of decision to the owner to explain the outcome and to document that the reduction was a narrowly applied compromise rather than a change in policy on unpermitted work.
