Marina del Rey : Tenants Seek to File Suit

The Marina del Rey Tenants Assn. on April 16 will ask the state Court of Appeal to allow it to sue marina landlords for allegedly charging excessive rents.

The tenant group has claimed that the landlords, who lease public land, were bound by a contract with the county to charge a “fair and reasonable” profit. The tenant group filed a suit in 1981 accusing the landlords of breaking that contract by reaping excessive profits.

But a Superior Court judge decided that the tenant group could not take the landlords to court because the contract is between the landlords and the county, and the county has not received any complaints about the rents. The association contends that the restrictions on rent in the contract were meant to benefit those who live in the marina and the tenants therefore have an interest in seeing the document enforced.