Eviction Reprieve for Hotel Tenants Is Extended

Tenants of a Van Nuys residential hotel cannot be forced to move out until at least mid-October, an Encino municipal judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Jerold A. Krieger extended a court order preventing the eviction of 29 La Casita Hotel residents, granting attorneys for the hotel owners and tenants more time to prepare their cases.

Michael Duran, an attorney for the tenants, filed suit Aug. 18 seeking $25,000 in damages for grief caused by 3-day eviction notices served in mid-August. The suit also asks for relocation expenses if tenants are forced to move.

A temporary restraining order that prevented the evictions would have expired Thursday.

An attorney for the hotel owners agreed to the extension because he learned minutes before the hearing that 28 residents had been added to the lawsuit, which originally named only one tenant.

“It just seems to be snowballing,” said David Seror, who represents owners Ronald R. Bentley, John Busby and Gargi Dalela.

Duran, who works for the nonprofit Bet Tzedek Legal Services, insisted that it was clear when he filed the lawsuit against the owners last month that he intended to “prevent a mass lockout,” not just the eviction of one tenant.

Duran tried Thursday to persuade Krieger to turn the temporary order into a permanent injunction, which would have protected tenants until the lawsuit is settled. Krieger scheduled a hearing on the suit for Oct. 12.

After the hearing Thursday, Seror denied tenant claims that the owners want the evictions so they can demolish the building to make way for condominiums. Tenants said they became concerned because instead of renting vacant hotel rooms, the owners are padlocking the doors.

“All they want from the tenants is the rent money,” Seror said. “Nothing more.”

Under city laws, apartment owners may collect rent only if they are registered with the rent stabilization division of the Community Development Department, said city investigator Lydia Aguayo. As of Thursday, La Casita’s owners were not registered, but Seror said they soon would be.

From the beginning, Bet Tzedek has encouraged tenants to continue to pay their weekly rent, which ranges from $80 to $120. Duran emphasized Thursday that tenants are sheltered from eviction under the court order only if they hold up their end of the agreement. However, several tenants said they had stopped paying rent because of confusion over who was responsible for its collection.

After the hotel changed owners Aug. 16, the managers were fired and residents said a Burbank accountant named David S. Halcrow started arriving on Fridays to collect rent. He told them he was one of the new owners.

Halcrow was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon Aug. 30 after he reportedly burst into the hotel just after midnight brandishing a semiautomatic rifle and telling tenants to get out. A search of title company records shows that he is not one of the owners, and Seror denied any knowledge of the man.

During the past few weeks a man named Ron Harper, who said he was hired by Halcrow, has been collecting.

“I stopped paying because I don’t know who these guys are,” said Terrance Collins, who has lived at the hotel for two years.