And finally…residents have entire street sold from under their noses

Legal action has been taken after all the communal areas outside homes on the Californian city’s Presidio Terrace were auctioned off in the wake of an unpaid tax bill.

Michael Cheng and his wife Tina Lam bought the gated street, where properties sell for millions of dollars, complete with its carefully manicured lawns, pristine pavements, footpaths other areas of “common ground”, as well as the road itself.

The homeowners association for Presidio Terrace were left socked at the turn of events that was able to happen after they failed to pay a $14,000-a-year property tax, something that owners of all 181 private streets in San Francisco must do, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The city’s tax office then put the property up for sale through an online auction to claw back unpaid back taxes, penalties and interest.

Mr Cheng and Ms Lam eventually won the street with a $90,100 bid in an April.

But residents claim they didn’t know anything about the missed payments until they were shocked to be offered the chance to individually buy the land in front of their homes from its new owners.

Scott Emblidge, the lawyer for the Presidio Homeowners Association, has blamed an administrative mix-up for the missed payments as a legal case against the sale was launched.

According to a letter seen by the Chronicle, he said the owners failed to pay because the tax bill was being sent to the address of an accountant who hadn’t worked for the homeowners association since the 1980s.

The street’s residents have attempted to block the new landowners by petitioning the city’s Board of Supervisors for a hearing to rescind the tax sale. The board has scheduled a hearing for October.

The homeowners association has also sued the couple and the city, seeking to block them from selling the street to anyone while the appeal is pending.

In lieu of a straight sale, Mr Cheng and Ms Lam are said to be looking for other ways to make money from their investment, including charging residents to park on their street or renting out the 120 parking spaces that line the road.

“I thought they would reach out to us and invite us in as new neighbours,” Mr Cheng told the Associated Press.

“This has certainly blown up a lot more than we expected.”

A seven-bedroom property on the street recently sold for more than $17m and the real estate investor, who was born in Taiwan, said he “got lucky” with the auction two years ago.

“As legal owners of this property, we have a lot of options,” he told the local newspaper.

“I’m a first-generation immigrant, and the first time I came to San Francisco I fell in love with the city.

“I really just wanted to own something in San Francisco because of my affinity for the city.”