Landlord accused of abusing tenants

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Landlord accused of abusing tenants

Los Angeles Daily News

Complaint: Deplorable living conditions allowed

BY KERRY CAVANAUGH, Staff Writer

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3938251

For a month, the bathroom ceiling in Mandie Henry's Panorama City

apartment was a gaping hole, ringed by greenish-black mold that

spread to the bathroom window and sill.

Her landlord finally patched the soggy plaster this week, but Henry

was already in the hospital for severe breathing problems - an

ailment she says was triggered by the mold, rampant cockroaches,

leaky pipes and the general damp condition of her apartment.

" I cannot breathe in that apartment at night. I have to go outside

at 4 in the morning, " Henry said by phone Wednesday, from the

hospital, while her daughter led visitors through the apartment.

" I've never been sick like this a day in my life. I'm only 37 years

old. "

Henry is one of hundreds of low-rent tenants across the city who

endured deplorable living conditions in apartments owned by Landmark

Equity Management, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday

by the City Attorney's Office.

Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the complaint charges that

Landmark Equity Management lied to tenants, refused to repair

unhealthy, dangerous living conditions and illegally raised rents to

force out rent-controlled residents and lease the apartments for

more money.

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo called the company and its

associates " a criminal enterprise posing as landlords. "

" They engaged in illegal behavior meant to chase tenants from rent-

controlled units and drive up the rent to enrich themselves at the

expense of the city's most vulnerable, " Delgadillo said.

Landmark did not return calls to its Van Nuys office Wednesday.

The unfair-business-practices complaint is a joint effort between

the City Attorney's Office and tenant-rights groups that collected

complaints from Landmark renters.

The criminal complaint asks the court to remove Landmark as the

property manager and appoint a new manager to clean up, repair and

oversee the buildings.

The City Attorney's Office also wants Landmark to give up the

profits earned in unfair business practices and make restitution to

tenants.

Landmark, a real estate management company, owns nearly 900 units in

Los Angeles, either outright or through limited-liability companies,

including Associates LLC, Associates LLC and Horizon

Associates LLC.

Most of the one-bedroom units in the Landmark building where Henry

lives rent for about $800 a month, and many of the tenants receive

Section 8 federal housing assistance.

According to the complaint, Landmark began buying old buildings

filled with rent-control tenants around 1999, and then allowed the

properties to deteriorate without repair.

Among the problems found at the buildings were faulty plumbing,

holes in walls and cockroach and rodent infestations. In some

buildings, landlords told residents they were ordered by the Health

Department to move out. Some residents were offered $2,500 in

relocation money to leave - less than the city-mandated $3,300 for a

single person and $8,200 for a family, senior or disabled person.

In other cases owners allegedly threatened lawsuits and even hired

gang members to harass renters, according to tenant-rights groups.

By allowing such poor living conditions, the city attorney contends,

Landmark sought to encourage long-term, rent-control residents to

move out voluntarily so the company could make repairs and lease the

apartments at market rate - which were often double or triple the

previous rent.

Later, once all the apartments are renovated and leased, Landmark

sells the building at a price based on the higher, non-rent-

controlled tenants, according to the complaint.

Landmark owns at least nine buildings in the San Valley,

and several recently have been cited for housing- and building-code

violations. The company tends to buy properties in low-income and

gentrifying neighborhoods, where longtime residents might not know

their tenant rights, Delgadillo said.

Across Los Angeles, city leaders have struggled to balance the hot

real estate market and the lack of affordable housing. More than

11,000 rent-control units have been taken off the market in the past

five years and tenant-rights advocates have pushed city officials to

keep a closer watch on landlords who might be trying to evade rent

control laws to take advantage of the market.

Larry Gross with the Coalition for Economic Survival warned that the

L.A. housing market is like the Wild West with some landlords

willing to openly disregard the law.

" Preservation of safe, affordable housing must be the city's highest

priority, " he said.

Residents, such as Henry, said they feel powerless to fight their

landlords alone.

Lattonnia Kareem and her husband, Ricky, were recently evicted from

their Panorama City apartment, owned by Landmark. Their apartment

was covered in mold and water dropped from their ceiling when their

upstairs neighbor took a shower. Kareem said the city declared her

unit unsafe to live in so she stopped paying rent until the problems

were fixed. They were never fixed and she was evicted.

" I can't believe the amount of money they charge for these

apartments, " Kareem said Wednesday when she returned to visit her

sister, who still lives in the building.

" The whole building is falling down. "

kerry.cavanaugh@...

(213) 978-0390