This Outer Sunset rental listing has it all, with a price tag to match: three bedrooms, natural light, a garage, and a backyard for $6,300 a month.
The only problem? The landlord allegedly shot and killed the previous tenant.
Philippe Chagniot, a 68-year-old retired dentist, allegedly murdered Eric Bigone, 58, on May 17 in front of the home at 2518 46th Ave.
Prosecutors say Chagniot — who has been charged with murder — lit a fire atop Bigone’s car; when Bigone went to investigate, Chagniot shot him twice from behind with a suppressed MAC-10 submachine gun. Chagniot remains in custody.
The home remains owned by the Chagniot 2007 Family Trust, whose beneficiaries include Phillipe and his wife, Barbara Chagniot.
Bigone’s son Dino alleges in a wrongful death lawsuit that Chagniot killed his father to clear the home for sale. A San Francisco judge has barred the sale while the case plays out. Still, that hasn’t stopped the family from attempting to rent it out.
The sequence of events, from the shooting to the exorbitant asking rent, reflects the dark underbelly of the red-hot housing market stoked by the AI boom. A similar example played out in April in the Westwood Highlands neighborhood, where a home in which a woman had killed her family and herself sold for $2.2 million — $700,000 over asking.
The 46th Avenue home was first listed Aug. 22, with an asking rent of $8,000, according to Homes.com (opens in new tab), before being reduced this month. Broker Renee Engelen said the law requires her to disclose crimes that occur on a property within two years but noted that the shooting happened off the property, on the sidewalk. Engelen confirmed that she is working with the Chagniots to lease the home but declined to say whether Barbara Chagniot or a representative of the couple enlisted her.
She said the lease discloses the alleged killing to tenants but declined to share a copy because the lease contains privileged information.
A prospective tenant who toured the listing said she grew suspicious when she saw in the lease that the home was owned by a family trust. An internet search brought up news stories about the killing. When she asked an employee of the broker about the crime, the person told her the home had “a bit of history.”
The prospective tenant, who asked to remain anonymous because she didn’t want negative attention on her business, said it’s possible she may have missed the disclosure in the lease she was provided.
“I wasn’t looking for if someone was killed in the lease,” she said. But she was more perturbed by the fact that someone who allegedly killed his tenant could have been her landlord. “My money would presumably be benefiting this family,” she said.
Dino Bigone declined to comment on the listing or the pending wrongful death lawsuit he filed against Chagniot.
Bigone’s attorney and Chagniot’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Bridgett, who said she has lived on the street since 2017 and declined to share her last name due to privacy concerns, was outraged about the rental listing, calling Bigone “a great neighbor” and saying his killing had “terrorized” neighbors.
“That’s such bullshit,” she said. “I’m upset, sick.”
If anyone ends up renting the home, she said, she and other neighbors will knock on the door and tell them about the killing themselves.
“That house shouldn’t be rented,” she said.
Gabriella Smith, 78, has lived across the street since 2011. Her mouth fell open when The Standard told her the asking rent.
Two workers had gone in and out of the place two weeks earlier, she said. Gussied up or not, renting from a landlord accused of murdering his tenant seems like a bad idea.
“I’d be careful renting from someone like that,” she said.
Meanwhile, the woman who had considered renting the place before learning of the killing is taking a break from house-hunting. Shaken by her brush with renting from an alleged killer, she said she and her fiancé are happy enough at their place in the Outer Richmond for now.