Eileen Gu’s Neighbors Left Furious by Garbage Piles Outside Mansion

Olympic skier Eileen Gu‘s lavish family home in San Francisco is reportedly at the center of a bitter neighborhood dispute that stretches back more than 10 years and has seen multiple complaints filed against the gold medalist’s family over everything from sewage problems to unsightly garbage piles.

Gu, 22, who competes for China, spent much of her childhood living in a luxury mansion in the upscale neighborhood of Sea Cliff, where her mother purchased a four-bedroom property for $1.84 million in 2010, when the skier was 7 years old.

Despite boasting a net worth of more than $23 million, Gu—who claimed one gold and two silver medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics—is not thought to have ever purchased her own property, instead continuing to reside with her mother at the Sea Cliff mansion, when she is not traveling the world for work.

But that same home is now at the center of a rather ugly neighborhood battle, according to a new report by The San Francisco Standard, which alleges that the latest twist in the Sea Cliff spat involves an unsightly pile of garbage that was left piled up outside the property on June 8.

According to the outlet, “an enormous pile of trash and furniture” was dumped on the sidewalk outside the property, which was originally built in 1925 and is now worth $5 million, with images published by The Standard capturing a haphazard collection of old shelves, a couch, a mattress, what appears to be a disused suitcase, and cardboard boxes filled with abandoned clothing, books, and other detritus in front of the Gu residence.

One local told the publication that the pile was so large it had completely covered a fire hydrant on the side of the street—prompting one neighbor to lodge an official complaint with the city’s 311 line, the number used for nonemergency government services.

A Recology worker was dispatched to the property the following morning, where he encountered the trash pile, but noted that they were unable to immediately dispose of it because no appointment had been made to deal with the items. When he attempted to speak to someone at the home, his knocks went unanswered.

One of the Gu family’s neighbors, Ira Glick, then tried to contact the Olympian’s mother, Yan Gu, on the phone, but was also unable to get in touch.

Yan later told The Standard that, while the items had been left outside the home, they had been organized “neatly” and then covered in order to protect them from any inclement weather. She suggested that “vicious people” were responsible for rifling through the boxes and leaving the items in a state of disarray. She then insisted that a truck had been sent to collect the garbage.

However, Glick claimed that this was not the first time a neighbor had complained about the Gus—alleging that another local had been at odds with the family over “property boundaries.” That same neighbor, who has not been named, lodged an official complaint on April 28, which described the Gus’ property as “neglected,” adding that the yard was covered with “overgrown vegetation, trees, and weeds.”

“Trash cans left filled [are] drawing rodents and scavenging birds,” the complaint added. Again, an inspector was sent to the property, only to find that there were no active violations.

Another neighbor told The Standard that they had been involved in a dispute with the Gu family several years ago over a “newly-poured driveway.”

City records viewed by the outlet revealed that there have been several complaints made about the Gu property “stretching back more than a decade,” including one relating to “a long-running issue around incomplete inspections” and another filed in January 2024 that detailed “a backyard sewage problem.”

Inspectors responding to the second complaint are said to have found a large pool of sewage “standing and bubbling” on the property.

In January of this year, Yan was also named as a defendant in a personal injury suit filed by Adolfo Avila Chavez, who claimed that he was hired by her gardener, Hector Alvarez, to assist with projects around the Sea Cliff property. Chavez states in the filing, which has been viewed by Realtor.com®, that he was not provided with the necessary safety equipment and subsequently suffered a fall from a 10-foot ramp that had not been positioned properly.

He alleges that he sustained lasting injuries in the fall, which took place in July 2024.

Yan herself also raised complaints about one of her neighbors, telling The Standard that she and her family have been forced to keep the curtains of their home closed throughout the day to block out glare caused by two gleaming weather vanes at a neighboring property.

Realtor.com has contacted Gu’s spokesperson for comment.

It is unclear how regularly the skier stays at the property, which is located around a one-hour’s drive from Stanford University, where she was studying prior to the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.

However, in 2025, ahead of the Olympics, Gu took a break from Stanford and moved—at least temporarily—to Scharnitz in Austria, where she and her mother spent time living in different rental properties so that she could train on the slopes.

In an interview with Time magazine, the skiing pro joked that their latest accommodations were much like a traditional bachelor pad, remarking that the enormous grill, hot tub, and fireplace were particularly “manly.”

However, she confessed that living in the quaint village of Scharnitz gave her an opportunity to experience real freedom, away from anyone and everyone who might recognize her for her celebrity status—allowing her to focus solely on her passions: skiing and studying.

“I get to do my favorite thing in the morning, and then do my second favorite thing in the afternoon, and then hang out in this nice house in this small town where no one knows me or can bother me, and I’m just in my house with my mom, and then I just get to be by myself,” she explained.

Her Olympic year started with a trip to Beijing, where she spent time training with China’s coaches, taking up temporary residence yet again, this time in a luxury hotel, where she shared candid videos and photos from her daily routine on Instagram.

Gu has made clear her desire to return to Stanford to continue her studies; however, it appears she has not done so just yet, with images posted to her Instagram showing her enjoying several trips around the globe, including an April visit to Morocco and a more recent stint in Monaco, where she watched the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Her mother is understood to join her daughter on several of her professional trips—and was by Gu’s side throughout the Olympics earlier this year, having helped to support her dreams of sporting superstardom from an early age.

Speaking to Time, Gu recalled her mother—who raised her as a single parent—driving her to Lake Tahoe every weekend so that she could ski, having taken up the sport when she was just 3 years old, picking up the hobby from her mom, who is a former ski instructor.

The four-hour drive between the slopes and her home were spent doing homework, sleeping, eating, and chatting with her mom, with Gu describing the experience as being “integral” to their close mother-daughter bond.

In February 2022, shortly before Gu competed in that year’s Winter Olympics, reports stated that she was still living with her mother and her maternal grandmother, Feng Guozhen, in the Sea Cliff property.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom abode offers incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge, which Gu was able to enjoy from the comfort of her own room, while social media videos show her kicking back in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother, making different meals.