Mobile Home Tenants Hail Court Ruling

A Superior Court commissioner on Wednesday issued a temporary order restraining the City of Westminster from enforcing retroactive portions of an ordinance repealing the city’s controls on mobile home park rents.

The decision by Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer was hailed as a victory by a group of residents of Los Alisos Mobile Home Estates, who filed the suit on behalf of tenants of the city’s 19 mobile home parks.

Lawyers for the Los Alisos Mobile Homeowners’ Protective Assn. presented the court with about 100 declarations from elderly residents stating they could not meet demands for increased rent and might be forced to abandon their homes.

Release of Funds Barred

The restraining order applies only to retroactive provisions of an ordinance unanimously adopted by the City Council on March 26 to repeal the city’s 1981 rent-control law affecting mobile home parks. It also prevents release to one mobile home park owner of an estimated $1 million held in trust pending the outcome of litigation.

Under the 1981 ordinance, disputes over rent increases were settled by arbitration. In the case of Los Alisos Mobile Home Estates, a sprawling 662-coach community on Garden Grove Boulevard, disputed rent increases were heard by an arbitrator for each of the four years the ordinance was on the books.

Each time, the arbitrator sided with the residents. However, due to litigation now pending in the state Court of Appeal, rent increases demanded by park owners--higher than those decided by arbitration--have been placed in the trust account.

That account would have been turned over to park owner Lee Miller today, a move blocked by Wednesday’s restraining order.

Miller could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but in the past has defended rent increases at Los Alisos and another park he owns in Westminster as “fair.” While conceding that average rents at Los Alisos have increased from $217 in 1980 to $381, he contends his rents are still slightly below the county average, which he places at $403.

Bauer scheduled a second hearing on the repeal ordinance for May 14.

Chuck Elsesser, a lawyer representing the Los Alisos residents’ group, said the entire ordinance will come under scrutiny on that date.

‘Very Serious Questions’

The court was “especially concerned” about the retroactive portions of the repeal ordinance, Elsesser said. “The judge had some very serious questions.”

“I hope it will be just that--temporary,” said Mayor Joy Neugebauer of the restraining order. Neugebauer, a strong supporter of the repeal, said she believes rent control is “counter-productive.”

“There must be a better answer, not government control,” she said.

John Barry, president of the residents’ group, said he was elated by Bauer’s decision and predicted another victory on May 14.

“We’ve always paid the legal rent,” he said, “but then last month the city said (Miller) can have anything he ever asked for in the past. The restraining order simply says ‘no,’ nor can he touch the funds set aside by the previous law and the arbitrators.”

Barry said the association will now lead the push to place the 1981 council-adopted ordinance on the ballot, to be approved or denied by voters. “We’ll have to raise about 6,000 signatures,” he said. “It undoubtedly will take a lot of work, but I have a great feeling we can pass it.”

‘We’ve Got a Chance’

Another Los Alisos resident, Dick Johnson, said Bauer’s decision shows that “at least we’ve got a chance. When the judge hears the whole thing, he’ll probably rule in our favor like the arbitrators did.”

Like many of the city’s mobile home parks, the vast majority of residents at Los Alisos are elderly, and many are on fixed incomes. An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 people live in the parks.

Before passing the repeal, many of the council members said they expected a lawsuit. On Wednesday, Mayor Neugebauer said the residents’ move came as no surprise, but she expressed regret over the court’s decision.

San Juan Capistrano has Orange County’s only other rent-control ordinance for mobile home residents.