Bellflower : Striking Tenants Face Eviction

More than one-fourth of the tenants in a large apartment complex face eviction because they refused to pay their rent after being left without hot water for as long as 19 days.

Striking tenants at Small World Family Apartments have until today to pay their rent before management proceeds with the eviction process, according to Betty Bruesch, manager of the 296-unit complex in Bellflower. Tenants in 76 units were served with eviction notices on Tuesday.

Tenants had to shower in a YMCA in Downey because a major gas leak left them without hot water. Because the repairs were done in phases, some tenants did not have hot water for as long as 19 days, Bruesch said Wednesday.

The buildings’ management compensated the tenants with $50 for the first week and $7.15 for each additional day they were inconvenienced, Bruesch said. While many of the tenants remain dissatisfied, Bruesch said that workers replaced the gas line system--at a cost of $180,000--”as fast as they could.”

“They were working seven days a week and 14 hours a day,” Bruesch said. “I was without hot water, too. It affected everybody. Nobody liked it. It’s something that happened. We corrected it as quickly as we could.”