A San Francisco couple is suing their landlords after they allegedly raised their rent by 71%. Sabah and Goksal Oney are claiming that the $10,000 monthly increase was intended to force them out of their Marina home.
The couple the San Francisco Standard that they were preparing to renew the lease on their three-bedroom, three-bathroom house on Avila Street. They informed the owners, Jamie and Andrew Patton, that they were expecting their second child.
“We have some wonderful news to share,” Sabah wrote in a text message to Jamie and Andrew Patton on August 1, 2025. “We are expecting our second baby — due November. We will have a baby girl this time :)”
The Oneys had moved into the home about 10 months earlier and hoped to continue living there as they prepared for the arrival of their baby girl. Sabah, 42, is the CEO of a biotech startup, while Goksal, 36, works and is pursuing a master’s degree in family and marriage therapy.
Pregnancy announcement followed by rent shock
In August, Sabah messaged the landlords with the news that they were expecting another child.
Jamie Patton initially congratulated the couple and said the family had no immediate plans to return to . She also mentioned that they were considering whether to sell the property.
“Congratulations!!” Jamie replied. “We have no plans to return to San Francisco, so with the housing market appearing pretty tight and rates coming down, we have been debating selling it. Let us know if you might have interest in buying or what timeframe you’re thinking of staying as renters.”
“We have no firm plans or deadlines,” Jamie wrote. “so no pressure at all.”
A new rent proposal
However, hours later, the conversation changed. After speaking with her husband, Jamie informed the Oneys that they were considering selling the home.
“Hey guys, after talking to Andrew we are planning to sell unless the economics change significantly,” she wrote.
A few weeks later, the tenants received a new rent proposal: the monthly rent would increase from $14,000 to $24,000 if they stayed for another year. The also offered a temporary extension through January at $18,000 per month.
The Oneys said the sudden increase left them stunned.
“We were shocked,” Sabah said.
“We were so happy to be living in such a nice place — the ideal place for our kids, for our family,” Goksal added.
Couple forced to move
The family had already enrolled their three-year-old son in a nearby preschool and spent months furnishing the house. They said the rent hike forced them to search for another home just weeks before their daughter was born.
“As a mom, during one of the most vulnerable times of my pregnancy, this just elevated my stress and anxiety,” Goksal said.
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Instead of preparing the nursery, the couple had to focus on moving. They eventually bought another house nearby, but it was smaller and required them to sell furniture they had purchased for the Avila Street property.
The new home allowed them to remain in the same neighbourhood, where their son was set to begin preschool, but they lost space — moving from a 2,400-square-foot house to an 1,800-square-foot one.
Lawsuit against landlords
The Oneys filed a lawsuit against the Pattons a couple of weeks before Christmas, alleging that the landlords never intended to collect the higher rent. Instead, they used the rent hike as a way to evict the family and make the property easier to sell without tenants.
Their attorney, Rahman Popal, said his firm has seen more cases involving landlords using large rent increases to encourage tenants to leave. “We’re seeing an explosion in these cases,” Popal said.
The increase in such cases can be attributed, in part, to San Francisco’s rising property values and housing demand, which is encouraging some landlords to push tenants out through steep rent hikes rather than formal eviction processes.
Tenants say that landlords may use extreme rent hikes to avoid the cost of formal eviction.
The Oneys stayed through the end of their lease in November while the property underwent renovations. They said workers were coming into the home while they were still living there.
By Halloween, the property had been listed for sale.
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“We were trying very hard not to be confrontational, because that’s not who we are,” Sabah said. “But they were being so brazen.”
The couple said they hope their experience draws attention to how families can be affected by sudden rent increases.
“Many families don’t have the resources, platform, or ability to speak publicly about their experiences,” Goksal said. “If this happened to us, it can happen to others as well.”
Records show the Pattons bought the home in 2021 for just over $4.1 million and later sold it for $4.35 million.
