Landlord Pledges to Keep Condemned ‘Co-op’ Empty

A Santa Ana lawyer who said he never knew his dilapidated, two-unit rental building was being used as a self-styled cooperative by some 40 Mexican nationals agreed Tuesday to keep the building vacant until he has it torn down, sometime in the next four months.

The agreement between David G. Vest and the city, made with the approval of Superior Court Judge Philip E. Schwab, came 19 days after the Santa Ana Fire Department evacuated and condemned the building as violating health and fire codes.

“I’m quite sure they were right to condemn the building,” Vest said. “There were numerous electrical hazards. I’m very grateful and thankful this (occupation of the apartments) was found. It was a very dangerous and could have led to a tragic situation.”

When fire inspectors evacuated the building, at West 10th and North Garnsey streets, they found 18 cots and mattresses and two television sets in a large room in the middle of the building. Cracks in two walls were large enough to admit daylight. Vest, who was out of town at the time, said pictures of the interior showed electrical extension cords leading “all over the place.” The occupants all shared one bathroom.

The owner described himself as a person who would find it “anathema” to allow such a living arrangement. He said he had rented each of the units to single families but had been too busy to check on the property “often enough.”

Group Shared Expenses

One of the extra tenants, Rogelio Majera, 22, said the occupants were all Mexican nationals who had formed their own cooperative to help each other. Majera said he had been paying $25 a month in rent and helped provide food and other necessities.

“I think what was going on was some creative subleasing taking place,” Vest said. Whatever the extra tenants were paying, he said, was not turned over to him.

He did not say what rent he charged but referred to the building as a “losing venture.”

A tenant in a house next door, which Vest also owns, had acted as a manager to collect rents from the apartments and let him know about needed repairs, he said. The order does not affect that house, he said.

Vest bought the two lots, several blocks from the courthouse, in 1980, with the idea of building an office building for himself and other law firms. But, he said, he has not been able to obtain financing for the project and is looking for partners.

Deputy City Atty. Tomson Tio Ong said Vest will not be charged with any criminal wrongdoing and that, as long as he complies with the agreement, the matter will be closed.