Denver this week issued the first $999 fine to a San Francisco man who owns a property in the city for failing to obtain a rental license.

The city’s licensing department first issued a notice of violation on Feb. 24 to Jonathan Schwartz, who lives in San Francisco and owns a rental property at 3401 N Williams St. in Denver.

Then came three escalating fines, ending with a citation for $999 on Aug. 29.

Contacted by The Denver Gazette, Schwartz confirmed he owned the Denver building but added he didn’t know about the notice of violation — or of the fines.

“Yeah, not aware of that,” Schwartz said. “I would think it would be something that they would’ve notified me on if that was, in fact, going to be a round of fines.”

Eric Escudero,  communications director for the city’s Department of Excise and Licenses, said the city has the option of issuing daily fines for $999 and, in “extreme cases,” a criminal citation, where the owner would have to appear in court.

“The city looks upon fines and citations as a last resort when every effort has been made to get a business owner in compliance with the law, which is why it took more than 8 months to get to the point of issuing the third fine/citation of $999,” Escudero said in an email. “The goal is always compliance and a hope that our agency will not have to issue any fines or citations to achieve compliance with Denver law.”

He added: “Unfortunately, this is a case where an unlawful operator has refused to get in compliance with a Denver licensing requirement dedicated to ending unsafe rental properties despite historically high rents across Denver.”

The 7,429 square-foot building was built in 1903 and has a current assessed value of $126,890 and an actual value of $2,864,000, according to city tax records.

The property is shown on Denver’s records as being owned by JK Capital LLC, whose business address is 183 Day Street in San Francisco. That is where Escudaro verified the notice and fines were sent.

Public records for the 183 Day Street address indicate that Schwartz may have lived there from 2018 to 2023.

In addition to the first $999 fine, Escudero said Denver has already issued 1,578 notice of violations to unlicensed residential rental properties, 154 $150 first fines and citations, 12 $500 citations and fines for a second violation.

“I can’t comment if the city will pursue that path with this property,” Escudero said. “Our hope is this property and all other properties that are operating without a license will be compelled to get in compliance with Denver law, demonstrate their property meets minimal housing standards by passing an inspection and get the license that only has to be renewed once every four years.”

Under the regulation that the Denver City Council passed two years ago, landlords must obtain a residential rental property license.

That compliance involves obtaining an inspection of the property at the owner’s expense — estimated by one of the city’s providers to cost from $50 to $200 per inspection — followed by a city license fee of $100 covering two to ten units, or $250 for 11 to 50 units, or $350 for 51 to 250 units.

The city currently has 8,831 residential rental properties that are licensed in Denver — 4,857 for apartments and 3,974 for single family homes or condos. The deadline to obtain a license for the latter class of properties don’t kick in until Jan. 1, 2024, and landlords who apply for a license before the required date get a 50% discount.