Anaheim : Renovation Pledged in Apartment Dispute

The owner of a motel-turned-apartment building where tenants have complained about substandard living conditions has agreed to renovate all 235 units, according to John Poole, head of Anaheim’s code enforcement office. With the exception of a handful of tenants, residents of Casa Cordova Apartments, 3360 W. Lincoln Ave., are again paying their rent, said Janice Leu, president of the tenant association formed earlier this summer.

Tenants formed the association in July after eviction threats to about 50 of their number and actual evictions of another 18. The tenants reported their complaints about the eviction orders to the Legal Aid Society of Orange County.

Poole said the landlord has “made a lot of progress,” but Leu was not as optimistic, saying: “We’ve been promised a lot but we have yet to see.”

Meanwhile, at the Royal Gardens Apartments on 1700 N. Temple St., city code enforcement officers checked 10 apartments Thursday and plan to inspect another 10 apartments today Poole said. About 200 tenants of the Anaheim complex are withholding their rent to protest water leaks, dirty swimming pools and other problems, according to rent strike organizers.

Between January and the end of July, the city code enforcement office received six complaints from residents at Royal Gardens. In the last month, however, officials have received 49 requests for inspections at the 350-unit complex, Poole said.