Santa Ana : Judge Orders Tenants to Turn Over Back Rent

In what was termed a victory for landlord Carmine Esposito, an Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered 22 striking tenants in the owner’s Santa Ana apartments to turn over their full amount of back rent--about $70,000--to a court-appointed receiver.

If the tenants living in Esposito’s six buildings on West Brook Street do not turn over the funds by Dec. 10, Judge John J. Ryan said, they could be found in contempt of court.

Ryan cautioned, however, that the money paid to a court receiver will be turned over to Esposito only if he shows proof of repairing his buildings.

The dispute began in February, when about 300 of the tenants living in Esposito’s buildings began to withhold their rent payments, complaining about broken glass, exposed wiring, cockroaches and faulty plumbing in their apartments.

Tenants eventually filed 105 lawsuits against the landlord, alleging 95 misdemeanor counts of violating the Santa Ana housing code.

At the time, Esposito said he could not repair the buildings because he did not understand the city’s building regulations and its “bureaucracy.”

Ryan’s decision affects about half of the 60 apartment units where tenants have continued to withhold rent. Earlier, striking tenants in 25 of the units settled with Esposito and agreed to pay him 50% to 85% of their rent, according to Terence Calder, Esposito’s lawyer.

Calder said four of his client’s apartment houses are now in compliance with the city’s building code and that Esposito will repair the other two apartments in 30 days.

Tenants’ attorney Richard Spix, who filed the initial lawsuits against Esposito, said some of the tenants continued to withhold rent because they did not believe that they should fulfill their part of the rental contract while Esposito failed to hold up his end.

The court had ordered tenants to pay the rent in April, but the order had no force behind it because not all of the affected tenants were named, Calder said. He said Ryan’s order will make tenants abide by the previous court ruling.