‘Betrayed’ in the ‘Land of the Free’
I survived Hitler and came to the land of the free and the home of the brave in 1951. My six-unit apartment house in Santa Monica represents the result of 30 years of hard work.
The Rent Control Board in Santa Monica forces me to rent a beautiful 1,400-square-foot apartment with two bedrooms, dining room and two baths for under $500, while only two blocks away, in Los Angeles or almost anywhere, similar or even smaller apartments rent for $900 and more. I am, in fact, giving my tenants $4,800 each per year, a total of $24,000 for five apartments.
Recently, the house needed a new roof at a cost of about $8,000. Rent Control handed me a stack of forms to file a petition--seven copies--which revealed that I can charge the cost of the roof plus financing to my tenants over 10 years, or about $11 for each of the six apartments per month. How much will the $11 be worth in 10 or even five years?
I may be granted this relief if I can show that my net operating income did not yield a fair return. Who is going to determine the fairness? Each of my tenants will have the opportunity to see my figures and calculations. Am I still in the land of the free? Is it permissible that in a free country my tenants have to have knowledge of my financial matters? Can it be just that people simply vote themselves my money into their pockets and will not allow me a reasonable return on my investment? Last year I had, of course, no income whatsoever from my investment, except for my free rent; the roof ate it all.
I am not allowed to let any of my relations have an apartment in my own house because I occupy one myself. Am I in the land of the free? No more can I deal with my property the way I need and want.
Every 50-year-old shack in Santa Monica that was bought for $15,000 can now be sold for $350,000 while the value of my house has been cut in half because of the unreasonable actions of the Rent Control Board, which disregards the realities of the marketplace. Will the day come when the automobile dealer will have to sell to the low-income people at half price? This is what is happening to me, except that my tenants are far from the low-income group.
I feel betrayed, abandoned and powerless to fight the dozens of lawyers that the board pays with my money.
HENRY BAUMGARTEN
Santa Monica
