Landlord Sentenced to Term in Own Building : Enforcement: He allegedly failed for more than a year to make ordered repairs. ‘This will get his attention,’ a prosecutor says.

The landlord of a run-down Hollywood building has been sentenced to live 28 days in one of his own rat-infested apartments. The order came after he failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to make repairs, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office announced Thursday.

Paul D. Tolbert of Montecito, a wealthy enclave near Santa Barbara, was sentenced by Los Angeles Municipal Judge Lois Anderson-Smaltz to serve time, starting Nov. 27, in a second-floor apartment of his two-story, 24-unit building at 1938 Argyle Ave.

Tolbert is the sixth Los Angeles slumlord sentenced by local judges to live in their own buildings after failing to comply with health, fire, building and safety codes. The first was Beverly Hills neurosurgeon Milton Avol, who served a 30-day sentence in one of his slum apartments in 1987.

Deputy City Atty. Lawrence P. V. Punter of the Slum Housing Task Force said he asked for the sentence after Tolbert failed for more than a year to deal with rat and cockroach infestation, provide heat and hot water, or fix broken windows, faulty plumbing, broken toilets, missing screens, defective fire doors, fire hoses and extinguishers.

“We failed to get his attention,” Punter said. “This will get his attention.”

The graceful but dilapidated 68-year-old building was nearly empty of tenants Thursday. Arthur Moreno, one of the few remaining, said the others “ran away” because rents were raised and they could not pay. A sign over the front door indicated earthquake safety work was under way, but no workers were there.

Moreno, a hotel housekeeping employee who pays $300 a month for a small two-room apartment he shares with his wife and three children, said he has no heat, “a little” water and many cockroaches.

Tolbert was arraigned in September, 1988, Punter said. After pleading no contest last May to 13 violations of health, fire, building and safety codes, he was placed on probation and told to make repairs by Aug. 16. Tolbert also was ordered to pay $4,500 in fines, $1,743 in restitution to investigative agencies and make a $500 contribution each to the Income Elderly United-Community Assistance Program and St. Vincent Center, organizations which aid the underprivileged.

But the repairs were not made and the fines and contributions were not paid by Aug. 16, Punter said, and that led to Tolbert’s sentencing.

Judge Anderson-Smaltz has now ordered Tolbert to complete repairs by Dec. 15. If he fails to meet the new deadline, City Atty. James K. Hahn said in a statement, “We will be asking for a significant jail term to be imposed.”

Tolbert could not be reached for comment.