This scenario actually happened to me 20 plus years ago. I rented a small 2 br house in Normal Heights on 36th street, adjacent to the old safeway. Turns out the guy I rented from had been hired by the Safeway corp to keep the lawn mowed and empty the house (and a bunch of others like it) because they were building “super stores”.) Instead he was living in one, and renting the others. 18 months later we get a letter from Safeway corp asking us what rent we’ve been playing and giving us 60 days notice. The guy went to jail.
It was a hassle to move – but it was a great and inexpensive place to live for a year and half when I was going to SDSU.
(House is now torn down with a supermarket on top of the site.)