Newport trying to collect $30,000 in back rent from tenant of city-owned apartment

The city of Newport Beach is suing a tenant of one of the apartments it owns for more than $30,000 in back rent.

The tenant, John McVea, has been living in a two-bedroom, one-bath walk-up at the city-owned Balboa Yacht Basin since 2001. According to the city’s eviction lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, he hasn’t paid rent on his month-to-month lease since April 2017.

McVea filed a reply to the lawsuit this week, confirming that he hadn’t paid rent in the past year. However, he said he has spent $21,000 over the years on renovations to the apartment, and installed a new stove, and that those expenses should be credited to his rent but were not.

City Community Development Director Seimone Jurjis, who oversees the real estate division, said the city hasn’t entered the unit recently and couldn’t confirm any tenant repairs.

According to court records, McVea’s back rent through March totaled $26,405. Including a daily rental rate of $79.46, which has been accruing since March 14, the day after the city posted a three-day notice to pay rent, McVea is now about $30,500 in arrears.

McVea said Wednesday that the situation is not an eviction but rather a clerical error that would be settled. He added that Newport Beach “has been nothing but good” as a landlord.

However, Jurjis said the city clearly has undertaken eviction proceedings with the intent of recovering the back rent.

The apartment, at 829 Harbor Island Drive, is one of only three in the city’s portfolio. It overlooks the rippling green water of Newport Harbor lapping around docked boats in the public marina. The two other units also are at the yacht basin, along with several one-car garages available only to slip or apartment renters.

Though the Balboa Yacht Basin apartments are city-owned, they are not government-subsidized. They rent for about $2,400 to $2,700 per month.

Many of the city’s property management duties cover assets on state-controlled tidelands, which the city holds in trust. That includes the moorings and slips at privately owned marinas or other waterfront businesses like dock-and-dine restaurants, the land under the Balboa Bay Club and about 70 privately owned houses in Beacon Bay, and the restaurants at the end of the municipal piers.

The properties the city directly owns and leases out are few. Aside from the Balboa Yacht Basin apartments — and onsite businesses such as the marine supply shop and the Galley Cafe — the portfolio includes the dirt beneath the new Lido House hotel.

Jurjis said the city tries to work with tenants who have fallen behind on rent, especially long-timers, and this is the first time in his seven years with Newport Beach that he’s seen the city take the last resort of eviction.

Assistant City Attorney Michael Torres said city staff tried to resolve the matter informally before going to his office to file the eviction paperwork.

“We don’t come in with the hammer,” he said.

Jurjis said the city has called McVea and sent him letters and emails and that he’s responded but hasn’t paid.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD