Landlord Ordered to Let Evicted Renter Return to Apartment

A Municipal Court commissioner on Wednesday ordered that a 60-year-old man, who worked from Thanksgiving through Christmas as a Salvation Army bell ringer, be allowed to return to his apartment, which he was forced to abandon for almost 2 weeks after he was late paying his rent.

Robert Barry said he slept in his 1979 Chrysler Cordoba or in a shelter for the homeless after he was locked out of his 1-room apartment at the Valley House Motel in the 9400 block of Sepulveda Boulevard in Sepulveda on Dec. 22.

“I had to live on the street,” Barry said. “Now I’m aware of the problems of the homeless.”

Encino Municipal Court Commissioner Joseph R. Ruffner issued a temporary restraining order against George Chang, the owner of the building, allowing Barry to return home.

“I’m relieved that justice has been done,” Barry said after the ruling.

Barry said he owed Chang $240 when he was forced to leave his apartment. But a spokeswoman for the landlord, who refused to give her name, said Barry owed $300 and left of his own accord.

“We didn’t do anything,” she said. “He moved out by himself.”

Ruffner scheduled a hearing for Jan. 12, when he will decide whether to extend the order. Chang, who did not appear in court Wednesday and could not be reached for comment, can argue against an extension at that time.

Barry said he returned from collecting money for the Salvation Army about 8 p.m. Dec. 21 and found the locks on his door changed. He said he was told by Chang that he was being evicted because his rent payment was overdue. Barry said he paid $40 of $43 he had in his pocket and was allowed back into his room.

When he returned the next night, he said, the motel owner handed him his belongings in a paper bag and told him to find shelter elsewhere.

“I think he should have given me a chance to pay the rent,” Barry said. “He knew I was having money problems.”

Michael F. Duran, who filed a lawsuit that led to the judge’s order, said that the law requires a landlord to notify a tenant that he has 3 days to vacate. If the tenant refuses to leave, the landlord must go to court to force the eviction, Duran said, which could take as long as 2 months.

“A landlord has no right to lock out a tenant even if he’s behind in his rent,” said Duran, an attorney at Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which gives free legal counsel to elderly and low-income people. “The way you deal with late-paying tenants is you come to court and you file an eviction notice.”

Seeks Damages

In addition to the court order, the lawsuit seeks $25,000 in damages.

Barry said he is disabled because of a circulatory problem. He said he left a mechanical engineering job in Rockford, Ill., in August, 1987, and underwent surgery in Tucson in October, 1987. He said that it took him 6 months to recover from the surgery, and that he still has problems walking.

Barry said he moved to Southern California in September in search of a job at an aerospace firm.

Barry said he got by on $2,000 lent him by a friend until the money began to run out in late November.

At the suggestion of another friend, he said, he become a bell ringer, which provided a minimum-wage salary and three meals a day. Barry said he worked 40-hour weeks for about a month outside several San Fernando Valley shopping centers.

Salvation Army Capt. John Purdell praised Barry: “It was a pleasure having him, and I hope we have him work for us again.”