In the volatile world of San Francisco's tenant-landlord history, few companies have engendered as much controversy and acrimony as CitiApartments. The company, which currently owns upward of 7,500 units, has been sued on myriad occasions for abusive business practices.

Frank Lembi, the owner of CitiApartments, (which also goes by the name of Skyline Realty as well as numerous other limited liability corporations), embarked on a buying spree - starting in the late 1990's - that left many real estate experts perplexed. The Lembi family outbid all competitors to obtain rent-controlled buildings (those buildings built before June 1979) at highly inflated prices. While ostensibly a risky financial venture, the Lembi family counted on a perfect storm to weather any risks.

The first factor was the dot-com bust. After the go-go days of the City's dot-com glory had faded, landlords who had previously been able to charge astronomical rents, found themselves with severely depreciated properties. Although that economic climate would discourage most investors, the Lembi family inundated landlords with buyout offers. Many owners, mindful of the capricious nature of San Francisco's "Silicon economy" decided to sell.

Once in possession of the buildings - a vast majority of which were in the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill area - the Lembis quickly embarked on a campaign of tactics to clear the buildings of long-term tenants. The tactics included harassing phone calls, unannounced unit "inspections," disruptive construction, and physically imposing "security teams." Another crucial set of circumstances that played in the Lembi family's favor was that many tenants, particularly in the Tenderloin, had either language or cultural barriers that made them less inclined to seek help. Many of the buildings also suffered from neglect and mismanagement. Thus, the Lembis were able to justify their inflated purchase price by flipping a large percentage of the buildings.

What precipitated a spate of negative publicity and lawsuits against the company was simple: hubris. Content that they could flip buildings at will, the Lembis ventured into other regions of the city and attempted to replicate their strategy. But as their ventures began to attract more attention, tenants became much better educated.

In 2006, CitiApartments was hit with several lawsuits. In one instance, they were sued using the federal anti-racketeering statute (RICO), which had previously been used to bring down the mob, and had never been used against a property management company.

The City of San Francisco also sued them for unfair business practices, alleging that the company violated safety codes, illegally coerced tenants out of units, and converted residential units into short-term corporate housing in direct violation of San Francisco's rental laws. The suit also cited the company for its use of heavily armed security guards, utility shut-offs, and retaliation against tenants who spurned buy-out offers.

In order to put public pressure on CitiApartments and encourage the City Attorney to file a lawsuit against the corrupt landlord, CitiSTOP staged a huge, raucous protest outside the CitiApartments office on Market Street. The protest was a huge success and seriously shook up CitiApartment executives.

In response to the lawsuits, protests, and bad publicity, CitiApartments recast itself as a conscientious local company. Among their various transparent (and often laughable) attempts to garner good publicity was by contributing $10,000 to local charities (the company was estimated to have made $80 million in 2007). CitiApartments also listed ways to be more "environmentally sensitive" on their website. Changing light bulbs was one of their main suggestions.

There is considerable room for optimism, however. A big reason is that CitiSTOP, the San Francisco Tenants Union, and other concerned entities have been successful in drawing attention to the issue. Instead of focusing on how aggressive and frightening the company is, the focus has been on promulgating the idea that 'knowledge is power" - and nothing frightens CitiApartments more than knowledgeable tenants.

The "perfect storm" that helped propel the company to power may end up washing all their profits away as well. In an ominous sign for the company, CitiApartments put up 17 of their buildings for sale in February of this year. Many of them, are, of course, over-priced. A decade ago, with their nebulous business tactics, the Lembis may have been able to pay over-inflated prices. But will new prospective owners, mindful of both the bad publicity associated with the previous owners, and aware of rent-control laws take the same risk?