Quest for Shelter Where the Mountains Meet No-Vacancies-by-the-Sea : Renters Have Tough Time Locating in Santa Monica

By now Charles Redmond is used to hearing it: “You get me an apartment here and I’ll take care of you.”

Redmond is the manager of a 16-story apartment building overlooking the bay in Santa Monica. The Chamber of Commerce slogan in the community is: “Where the Mountains Meet the Sea.” Nowadays there are others who prefer to substitute: “The Land of the Treasure Hunt.”

The highly sought treasure is a rental unit, particularly desirable because of rent controls enacted in 1979, possibly the strictest in the nation. Trying to find a vacancy in Santa Monica is like trying to catch water in a sieve.

Creative Strategies

And creative indeed are the strategies employed to become a tenant in one of the 30,000 rental units--mostly apartments--which come under the rent control charter amendment.

“I know that some apartment seekers will approach a letter carrier and ask if he or she knows of anybody moving out on that route,” said Howell Tumlin, rent control administrator in Santa Monica.

“Some of the people,” Ed Triana said, “will stop at our moving vans in front of Santa Monica apartments and ask whether we are moving someone in or out, and will ask the names of those being moved.”

Triana, owner of Culver City Van & Storage, which is active throughout the Westside, said that if he is working one of the trucks, he refers any questions to those being moved.

“Perhaps it is a separation or divorce situation, and the husband or wife doesn’t care to give out any information,” the company owner said. “So out of courtesy, neither do I. But we are forever being asked things, even what the rent is at that apartment.

“We constantly get phone calls at the office from apartment seekers, asking if we will be moving anyone out in Santa Monica. I feel it is a confidential matter as far as our customers are concerned, and I don’t give out anything.”

‘Playing Games’

James W. Baker, a leading spokesman for the apartment owners (he despises the word landlord), has nothing against classified ads, but cautioned: “Any owner placing an ad for a vacancy in Santa Monica is playing games with his sanity. He’ll get 150 applicants the first day, and the phone won’t stop ringing.”

Indeed, one new owner of an apartment building in the town, who asked not to be identified, made what she said was the mistake of placing such an ad and lamented: “After the calls had reached probably 400, I took the phone off the hook.”

Hoping to find such precious ads, apartment seekers show up at the local newspaper, the Santa Monica Evening Outlook, in the morning to get what they feel is an edge. They buy a copy before it reaches the racks, dealers and subscribers, and head for the nearest pay phones with their pockets full of dimes.

There is another category of ads, “Wanted to Rent,” or “Rentals Wanted,” placed by prospective tenants or their representatives in newspapers: “$750 reward . . . $500 finders fee . . . Will pay to find . . . Highest Reward . . . “ The practice of paying such fees is illegal in Santa Monica. It is also widespread.

The Rev. James P. Conn, minister of the Church in Ocean Park (United Methodist) and a Santa Monica city councilman, said one method of apartment hunting is to walk or drive up and down the streets, looking for signs. Others counter that this is futile, that there are precious few vacancies listed on signs outside the buildings.

A Waste of Time

“Signs do go up,” Conn maintained, “although they are probably more rare in the (trendy) Wilshire-Montana corridor than in the Ocean Park area.”

Tumlin feels such tactics are a waste of time: “Cruising the streets to seek a ‘For Rent’ sign accomplishes little. I have been the administrator since 1980, and I haven’t seen such a sign in years. Except possibly for units that are exempt from rent controls (owner-occupied dwellings with no more than three units), and where the monthly price can be much higher.”

And, lo, agreement from Baker: “Nobody puts up signs anymore. That way lies madness.”

Boards left over from before 1979 do hang forlornly in front of many apartment structures, gathering dust, their wording originally meant to lure tenants, instead now a sad reminder of more tranquil days: “Deluxe apts. Elevators-Fireplaces-Spacious Rooms-Self-Cleaning Ovens.” Below this the inevitable current words: “Sorry, No Vacancy.”

But there are other strategies. “I have heard of people keeping their eyes out for a paint truck in front of a building,” Tumlin said. “They know it is being renovated, is possibly empty, and want to be inside and be shown the apartment while the paint is still wet.”

Then there is the belief--a mistaken belief, Tumlin said--that nailing down a new tenancy can be accomplished this way: “A friend of someone moving out tenders a check to the owner. The thought is that if the check is accepted and cashed, the owner has entered into a landlord-tenant relationship and the new check writer must get the place.”

Their Own Grapevine

Senior citizens, of which there are quite a few in the coastal town of about 90,000 inhabitants, have their own grapevine. “They have to be close-knit for the sake of their own survival, so they share information,” said Bob Hughes, recreation leader at the Santa Monica Senior Recreation Center.

“We have a bulletin board. Occasionally a senior who is an owner will have a place to rent, or someone else will know of one, and will put up a notice. It disappears in two to five minutes.”

Places-wanted notices, it is quickly apparent elsewhere in the town, are an increasing part of the literature on the bulletin boards of coin-operated laundries and supermarkets.

The Treasure Hunt is almost like trying to get a job. “Some apartment seekers,” Conn said, “go door to door, passing out resumes.”

Why not? Tumlin said the average rent today in Santa Monica for all apartments, of any size, is $430. Said Baker: “I would guess that the average in Brentwood and West Los Angeles is somewhere between $600 and $700.” Tumlin said he would agree with that estimate.

There are other ways to seek solace in the land of milk and a honey of a rent deal, one of which is to employ the services of a locating agency, such as Wellman Realty Co. Wes Wellman, the owner, declined to be interviewed, but Baker was:

“Wellman is the one broker in town the owners trust. He interviews and screens applicants, and matches applicants to the specific requirements of the owners.

“He doesn’t charge the client anything unless he finds an acceptable apartment.”

Renting to a Reagan

Baker said Wellman arrives at his fee by charging three times the amount saved monthly by renting a Santa Monica apartment as compared with what he estimates would be the market value without rent control.

Most of Wellman’s clients are ordinary people, but in 1984 the daughter of President Reagan, Patti Davis, turned to Wellman. And a select group of owners received a post card: “President Reagan’s daughter and future son-in-law (they have since married) have contacted me regarding finding an apartment in Santa Monica. If you have a vacancy coming up that you think might be suitable, please call me.”

Whether any of the post cards bore fruit couldn’t be determined, although Davis and her husband are living comfortably in the area.

The doorbell to the apartment of owner James Baker plays any one of 26 tunes. A visitor is greeted by an amiable and articulate gentleman, age 60 and retired president of a corporation that made prefabricated buildings, a man dapper in the style of Ronald Colman.

“The only reasons people move out of rentals in Santa Monica anymore are business transfers, home purchases and death,” he said.

Baker has been an apartment building owner for 35 years, 20 of them in Santa Monica. He has four structures in the town, containing 75 apartment units, each of the four with a manager.

“What I tell people who are out joining the great Santa Monica Treasure Hunt is to fill out an application to rent, and I advise that they use the form of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles (the nation’s largest organization of apartment owners).

“I tell them to be sure to include what is sought--a one-bedroom, a two-bedroom, and any wishes such as top floor or bottom floor.

“I urge them to fill it out as completely as possible, make lots of copies, and then distribute them door-to-door to as many owners and managers as possible in the area where they want to live.

“And this is how I word my final piece of advice: ‘I’ve got to be very careful about how I say this. All I can tell you is that three-quarters of my present applicants are offering to redecorate. You understand no owner can make that a condition of renting. I’m simply telling you that three-quarters of my applicants are offering to do so.’

Tenants Do the Fixing Up

“As long as I don’t make it a condition, they can unilaterally offer to put in new carpets and drapes, and paint the apartment.”

Tumlin said owners aren’t doing much fixing up because they don’t have to. “They have a long list of applicants willing to do it themselves.”

Baker disclosed that he and his managers get an average of 30 unsolicited applications each month per vacancy.

“Some of the applications I get are accompanied by letters saying how pro-owner and anti-rent control that person is,” Baker said with a touch of sarcasm.

“As for those ‘rewards’ offered in the newspapers--and I’ve seen them for $1,000 and up--I tell applicants in person and I tell them on the phone, don’t offer them. They scare owners and managers to death. No owner or manager will risk prosecution for agreeing to accept this. It frightens them into thinking it is a trap.

“I remember one man whose application was accompanied by a basket of gourmet wines. We returned it.”

Baker readily reveals what type of tenant is sought:

“We owners are looking for a younger, upwardly mobile, high-income, single-person household.”

Tumlin said the city attorney’s office doesn’t prohibit seeking this, barring only discrimination by reason of race, religion, the presence of children, nationality, ancestry, sex, or physical handicap.

“As long as you take applications from everyone, you can have a preference,” Baker said. “You can’t discriminate in showing apartments or taking applications.”

He has a minimum-income requirement for acceptance: A monthly income net, after taxes, of four times the monthly rental.

Why do many owners want a tenant such as previously mentioned? “Because,” Baker said, “such a person will reduce wear and tear on an apartment, can afford to redecorate, will probably buy a home within a reasonable time and move, and while occupying the apartment will probably be too busy to give you a tough time.”

Have rent controls resulted in a change in the population makeup of Santa Monica?

A fairly recent study was ordered by the Rent Control Board, and undertaken by an associate professor at Cal State Long Beach, using data from such sources as the 1980 U.S. Census and the Rand Corp. The study contended that between the advent of controls in 1979 and 1985, Santa Monicans haven’t become significantly more affluent as a group than before the charter amendment change.

Commissioned Own Study

The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles begs to differ. Learning that the board had commissioned such a survey, the association had one of its own conducted. “We didn’t have a lot of confidence in the rent board study,” said Kevin Postema, editor of Apartment Age, the association publication.

Postema said a telephone survey of 151 apartment owners was done in December by J & K Management in West Los Angeles. It found that during the same years as the board’s study, the average age of renters dropped slightly, to about 39. Information was based mostly on what had been provided in applications, Postema said.

So is Santa Monica, a community where about 80% of the population pays rent, increasingly becoming a town of yuppie tenants?

The association survey, Postema said, determined that renters earning more than $25,000 increased from 20% of the tenant population to 63%, while those under $25,000 decreased from 80% to 37%.

On the other hand, the board’s study found that “the only age groups that have declined at all since 1979 are 18-20-year-olds and 45-54-year-olds. All other age groups have increased.”

The board’s study said that the median income of Santa Monica households in 1979 was about $16,600, and in 1985 was about $22,600. “Considering the rate of inflation in the six-year period, the household income of 1985 doesn’t represent an increase over the 1979 figure,” according to the Rent Control News, a publication distributed by the board.

Whatever the case, the pursuit of rental happiness by the sea continues unabated.

“I’m confident people will be following up on obituary notices before long,” Baker said. “That has been done in New York for years.”

OK, so you’ve been invited to see the cherished apartment, and the owner or manager has completed the credit check on you. What next?

“Our procedure is to phone the references given--with particular emphasis on the next-to-last (apartment) owner,” Baker disclosed. “The present owner, if he wants to get rid of that tenant, will probably fib.”

Interviewed at Home

The final step, Baker went on, is for him and his wife, Cathy, to interview the applicant in the surroundings of the applicant’s present residence

“I explain to them the reason we have to be so careful in Santa Monica. I tell them they can divorce us by giving a 30-day notice on the back of an envelope or on a piece of toilet paper. But if we make a mistake, for us to divorce them is quite a bit more difficult.

“We notice what kind of a housekeeper the applicant is. Cathy, for instance, visits the bathroom--whether she needs to or not.

“And we don’t want someone who is renting his furniture. We have beautiful buildings, and we want reliable, first-class residents who have some pride in their living quarters.

“Pets are absolutely out--and we used to be pro-pet owners.

“We place value on recommendations from our own good residents. They have an interest in having high-quality neighbors, just as we do.”

Baker said that 80% of his tenants eventually become homeowners. “We are running a graduate school for future homeowners,” he quipped.

Why do owners want a renter who will eventually move? “We are in a survival mode, we live on hope,” Baker replied. “Our hope is to be saved from disaster by being allowed to rent for what the place is worth--either through legislation, in the courts or at the ballot boxes.

“Therefore, you don’t want someone who will be a squatter forever.”

Whether or not a prospective tenant intends to be in the place for any length of time, that person had better bear in mind a time-honored method for finding the bargain bower of his dreams: Word-of-mouth. It was mentioned by just about every one of the many persons interviewed for this story.

Average Waiting Time

Typical was the comment of Nancy Johnson, receptionist at the Ocean Park Community Center and a town resident: “Friends who are aware that you live here are always asking that you let them know if you hear of anything available.”

Baker said the average waiting time for a one-bedroom, assuming the applicant gets passing grades in every other regard, is from three to eight months--longer if a two-bedroom is sought.

He said he doesn’t maintain waiting lists: “I welcome all applications and keep them, but I don’t guarantee that I will respond to anyone, or select in any particular order, which I don’t have to.

“In Marina del Rey they used to keep a waiting list for boat slips, but people were threatening suits because they had been bypassed by others, and there were demands for priority numbers.

“I don’t want or need any of that for my apartment vacancies, and I don’t want people calling me all the time to find where they stand on a waiting list.”

Is much money changing hands in the competition for rentals? “Yes, there is a black market,” said administrator Tumlin. “We sometimes learn of it when a prospective tenant is asked to pay more than the lawful rent, perhaps under the table. Or, to be fair to the owners, many of them are offered bribes.”

Commented Councilman Conn: “There are a lot of games going on.”

Redmond, manager of the bayside high-rise, whose 288 units command rents from $350 to $650 tops, said he gets about a dozen inquiries a day--and has been offered as much as $1,000 to be, as it were, accommodating.

“We maintain a list of prospective tenants,” Redmond said. “It usually stands at about a couple hundred who are waiting.”

One Santa Monica resident received a post card that read in part:

“Dear Landlord: “We (a married, professional couple) are seeking a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica in the $400-$500/mo. range. . . . Our only purpose in considering a move is to save for the down payment on our eventual purchase. . . . We are offering a $1,200 FINDER’S FEE, and/or capital improvements to the unit. . . .”

It seems everybody, would-be tenants and owners alike, has an angle. One seeker was told the rent for a particular apartment near the beach would be only $300, but that he would have to take--and pay an additional $300 for--a parking space.

Rewards Offered

City Atty. Robert M. Myers commented: “Generally, a landlord may not additionally charge for services that were previously included in the apartment at the time rent control passed.”

Under the classified listings of “Rentals Wanted” or “Wanted to Rent,” some newspapers carry ads offering “rewards” from would-be dwellers of apartments, condos, duplexes or houses.

Emphasis in print often is placed on the fact that the seeker is in a profession and/or is a non-smoker. A week ago a seeker of a two-bedroom in Santa Monica ran an ad offering a “REWARD up to $3,000.”

But, said Joel M. Levy, general counsel of the Rent Control Board: “If any agency or realtor were to accept a finder’s fee, and some part of that fee found its way back to the landlord’s pocket, that would be a violation of the law.”

Occasionally, but not nearly often enough to fill the demand, apartments under rent control are advertised under the listings of furnished and unfurnished apartments. If an attractive low rent is specified, and a fee such as $45 is mentioned, an agency is usually involved.

One of the most popular such agencies is National Properties/Management Co. in Santa Monica.

“From 50 to 100 new listings come in every day to us from owners,” counselor John Tarasi said to a visitor who was about to pay $45 to become a client for three months.

Tarasi, a courteous worker behind a desk in a clean office, went on to explain that for an additional immediate $10, the client or his landlord will be provided with a TRW credit check to present to a prospective landlord.

If obtained at a later date, the charge for that report is an additional $25.

Personal Credit Report

On the other hand, anyone can attach an $8 check to a request in writing, and obtain a personal credit report--a printout in duplicate--from TRW in Orange, which maintains credit files on 133 million consumers in all 50 states.

“The fee in California is $8 (generally $10 in other states), unless the person has been turned down for credit within the last 30 days, in which case the report is free, as per federal regulations,” said Delia Fernandez, director of the public affairs department, TRW Information Services Division.

A spot check of National’s daily listings showed that the vacancies do exist, except few are in the magic ZIP codes of 90401 to 90405--Santa Monica. And the inexpensive residential rentals sometimes advertised don’t appear to be long available. National Properties, in fact, hands a form letter to new clients advising that properties may already have been rented by the time the firm’s classified ads get into newspapers.

A client is informed that each new list is available at noon. No listings come out on Mondays. From noon to 1 p.m. on all the other days, there is always a rush to get one of the new listing sheets, Tarasi said.

Vacancies Already Filled

In the six-day period from April 9 to 15 (the day the visitor signed up), there were a total of 274 listings, of which 25 had already been crossed out. National said it does this as a convenience to the client, to indicate that these vacancies already have been filled.

The value of using an agency by a rental seeker obviously exists--but not frequently when it comes to finding something in rent-controlled Santa Monica. Of the 274 listings mentioned, seven were in the ZIP codes of the city. One was crossed out. The monthly rents for the other six ranged from $1,000 to $1,650 (for houses), and included $895 for a house “share” (looking for a roommate) and $280 for a duplex “share.”

Five days after signing up, the new client, carrying the latest list and a few earlier ones, visited five of these six (the $1,650 listing provided only a phone number, and at that price isn’t generally what Santa Monica vacancy seekers have in mind anyway).

At the $280 duplex “share,” the occupant said it had already been taken. At the $895 house “share” on San Vicente Boulevard no one was home. Nor was anybody at a $1,050 rental house with barred windows on an alley in the less-affluent Ocean Park area of Santa Monica.

At a $1,600-rent house near Santa Monica College, the co-owner was sitting out front, near some furniture on the lawn, which was for sale. He said he was holding a month’s deposit on the house, but suggested calling back in case that deal fell through.

The final stop was at a $1,000 rent-controlled apartment on busy 14th Street. However, the representative of the owner was in the process of handing the keys to a couple who had grabbed the place apparently just minutes earlier.

Good old word-of-mouth, though. The representative confided that a presently unlisted and occupied apartment in the building would shortly be available for $1,100.

Seasonal Differences

Another factor that comes into play in apartment hunting is the season of the year.

“There are certain times of the year when apartment hunting in Santa Monica is better than at other times,” Conn divulged.

“There is for some tenants a transition time during the January semester break, and the June period when people are making life changes such as marriages and graduations, and sometimes September-October is good for vacancy hunting. Because we are a beach community, some people wait until summer is over before moving.”

Why did this one-time sleepy seaside village become the scene of such stringent rent controls?

“One reason rent control came about in April of 1979 was because the owners were going condo crazy,” said Penny Nagler, chairperson of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, a group not too popular with the owners, some of whom have been known to refer to it as “the five ayatollahs.”

The owners, Nagler said, “were converting apartments, there was what was being called a demolition derby going on for construction of new condos.

“Also, because Santa Monica is so desirable a place in which to live, some of the landlords were gouging. Some rents were being raised 100% to 200%. And just the year before that, the Jarvis Amendment (Proposition 13) had passed and had given tax relief to property owners,” Nagler said.

Tumlin said that property owners had promised to pass on their property-tax savings to the tenants. More than a few tenants, however, were angered when that failed to happen, he added.

A rent-control initiative, drafted largely through the efforts of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, passed by 54%, and rents were immediately rolled back to what they had been a year earlier. Annual stipulated increases are permitted by the board, usually effective in September and based roughly on 66% of the Los Angeles-Long Beach consumer price index from April to April. Last year’s was 3%, plus an additional 1 1/2% if the owner is paying all the gas and electric bills.

Unlike rent control in the city of Los Angeles, Santa Monica doesn’t have what is known as “vacancy decontrol.” This would permit a voluntarily vacated rental unit to go to market rent for the new tenant, then come under the controls.

Baker defines market value as being what the same unit would rent for in Brentwood or West Los Angeles.

Any Rent May Be Asked

The first time a unit comes on the market in Santa Monica, any rent may be asked, then the unit comes under controls, Tumlin explained. Under a charter amendment passed in November of 1984, if on July 1, 1984, a single-family house or condo hadn’t ever been rented, it was permanently exempt from any rent controls, he said.

In the June 3 election coming up in Santa Monica, the ballot will include an owner-sponsored initiative, which opponents feel introduces currently disallowed “vacancy decontrol.”

The measure is called the Tenant Incentive Program, which is voluntary for the owner, and, in general, provides that once a rental unit is voluntarily vacated, a new base rent can be established for it, after which it comes under controls again.

New Base Rent

In general, the measure provides that owners must distribute equally to the remaining qualified tenants, those who have lived on that property six months and aren’t either owners or managers, a cash payment derived by multiplying the monthly increase by 10 and then dividing that amount among eligible units.

Opponents of the measure call it a bribery of tenants for the purpose of introducing “vacancy decontrol.”

One current tenant, who asked that his name not be used, was reflecting on his fortunate situation:

“I have a two-bedroom cottage two blocks from the beach. I have rented there for 12 years. When I moved in, the rent was $110 a month. Now it is $250.

“People knock on my door and ask if I know of a place to rent in Santa Monica, or if any of the neighboring cottages is for rent.

“Strangers stop and offer rewards just for a lead to an existing vacancy.”

Last week, on the bulletin board of the Brite-Wash coin-operated laundry at 10th Street and Montana Avenue, were three notices, all giving phone numbers:

“Finder’s Fee Reward for single or one-bedroom in Santa Monica area. Looking to pay $550 a month. . . .” “$200 finder’s fee. . . . Non-smoking female needs one-bedroom apt/guest house/cottage. . . . Approximate rent $400. . . .” And “Apt. desperately needed. After living on 9th St. for 8 years, a new owner of the building has given my daughter and I 30 days to move out so he can occupy apt. . . . Generous Finder’s Fee. . . .”

Owners’ spokesman Baker said: “About 2,700 families own apartment buildings in Santa Monica. Of these, 1,200 occupy their own buildings.

“An owner can evict tenants in only one unit for the purpose of occupying it himself, provided that no other part owner or relative already lives there. For instance, you couldn’t vacate any others for the purpose of, say, moving in your parents or grown children.”

The unhappy prospect of having to move out of the town is faced by George Darnstaedt, 28, a supervisor at a pizza company in Alhambra. The house he rents with his girlfriend, Leslie Youngsteadt, is being sold. “We have been looking in Brentwood,” she said. “We haven’t looked in Santa Monica, because we despair of finding anything.”

‘Like a Black Market’

Said Darnstaedt: “You can pay anywhere from a $300 to $3,000 finder’s fee, which I don’t think is fair. It is like a black market.”

While tenants in Santa Monica don’t complain about their rents, there are those who aren’t happy with the maintenance.

For instance, Joyce Neu, who commutes to her job as a linguistics professor at UC Irvine, pays $425 monthly for a one-bedroom apartment in the desirable north-of-Wilshire area.

“We now have new owners who are making wonderful improvements,” she said. “But I had to file a petition with the Rent Control Board regarding the maintenance by our former owner.

“There was no lighting in the carport area or outside the building. There was a problem with the water heater. Sometimes you would wake up in the morning and there would be no hot water. The plaster was peeling. My wall was buckling because of a plumbing problem.

“I think the biggest problem with being a tenant in Santa Monica is getting the landlords to provide quality maintenance.”

Nevertheless, ingenuity during the Treasure Hunt continues. Found recently in a bookstore was a stack of yellow flyers left by one of the countless chasers of the rainbow:

“Professional man seeking residential rental in Santa Monica area,” his sheet said .

Then--and why not?--a plea with a touch of literature: “My presently estimated rental ceiling is around $400 a month. I am fully aware that this would normally not provide me a palace. Yet as Richard (‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’) Bach once aptly put it: ‘Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they are yours.’ ”