Landlord Fights Back : He Has Tenants on His Side in Battling Anti-Slum Charges
Devanand Sharma owns a quiet apartment complex in the midst of a troubled Westlake neighborhood where heroin addicts and youthful gang members control the public alleyways and clamber across people’s rooftops to elude police.
Despite the grim surroundings, longtime tenants of the complex, many of them poor, said they always considered the building a pleasant place to live--in fact “one of the nicest” in the Westlake district.
Tenants say Sharma does not raise the rent every year, as he could under city rent laws, and responds promptly to reports of broken appliances or plumbing. The graffiti left by gangs is regularly painted over.
So the tenants were surprised to learn that Sharma was sued March 1 by the city attorney, who in a stinging press release described a neglected hovel filled with falling plaster, filth and rodents.
Sharma, who has vowed to clear his name, believes he is a victim of guilt by association. In its press release, the city attorney linked Sharma to his older brother, Vijaynand, who was sentenced in 1988 to 23 months in prison for scores of building code violations and is now a fugitive. The Vijaynand Sharma case received heavy media coverage in the 1980s.
“Why is this case in court?” Devanand Sharma asked. “They (the city) did not try to work with me, not even for one day, to come up with reasonable deadlines for the major work. I feel that the city attorney saw my last name--Sharma--and said, ‘Can we catch him in some act? Can we throw any violations at him?’ ”
Deputy City Atty. Richard Bobb, contends that Sharma “was not treated any differently than anyone else” who is targeted by the city attorney’s aggressive anti-slum task force.
On March 1, Bobb told The Times that Sharma had neglected the 30-unit complex at 737 S. Westlake Ave. to the point of “making it really disgusting,” and said: “You would think he would have learned from the mistakes of his brother.”
Sharma, a respected Hawthorne-area restaurateur and hotelier and a member of that city’s redevelopment Project Area Committee, pleaded not guilty to 26 building code violations last Friday. He refused Bobb’s offer to dismiss all but a few charges in exchange for a guilty plea and a small fine.
Sharma said he is “just sick,” over the lawsuit and the “dredging up of my brother’s case after all that my mother and my family went through.”
But Bobb said: “If we targeted him for prosecution because of his brother, we would have looked up all the properties he owned, and we didn’t do that.”
In fact, the Sharma case was given unusual prominence by a formal press release that described his brother’s conviction and pointedly stated that Vijaynand Sharma was once a partner in the Westlake building. Twelve years ago, Vijaynand was listed on the deed--for two weeks, according to property records. But Devanand Sharma said his brother was never his partner.
Moreover, descriptions of the Westlake building issued by the city attorney’s office do not match conditions there.
Twice in early March, a reporter and photographer visiting the complex found no evidence of filth, rats or obvious slum conditions. The 70-year-old brick building was worn but clean, with carpeted hallways and apartments that showed signs of tenant care.
Several tenants asked why the city is “going after the landlord” instead of tackling gaping problems such as the public alley that has become a homeless encampment without toilets, or the piles of garbage accumulating along a curb where city sweepers rarely appear, or the heroin addicts who can plainly be seen shooting up at midday.
“I’ve been here 16 pleasant years and I’d like to say something to the (city),” said a perturbed Betty Fordham, 57. “There are much worse things in life than a few roaches or a little old paint on the wall. . . . It’s not Beverly Hills, but it has always been perfectly livable.”
Expressing a fear voiced by other tenants, she said: “The Health Department had better start cleaning the streets outside, because that’s where people are going to live when they can’t afford the high rents caused by all this unnecessary beautifying.”
During both visits by The Times, large crews were working to complete city-ordered repairs--replacing broken smoke detectors, old sinks and bathtubs, repairing kitchen cabinets and doorways, and inspecting the aging heating and electrical systems.
But two weeks later, on March 20, Bobb told The Times that Sharma had “polished some copper pipes and planted flowers, and that’s it.”
At that point, Bobb had not yet seen the building and was relying instead on reports from city and county inspectors. Based on those reports, he decided to continue pursuing the matter in court.
He said Sharma “had not made a good-faith effort” since first being cited late last year.
“With a good-faith effort, we will grant time extensions before going to court,” Bobb said. “One man working on a building is not good faith, and I don’t believe he has even one man working on the electrical updating that’s needed. I told (Sharma) it’s too late to stay out of court.”
Bobb said he visited the building March 21 “and I have told Mr. Sharma I am impressed with the work he has done. I saw a tremendous amount of work, and if it is up to code by the trial date (April 26) I will recommend only a small fine and probation.”
But probation and a fine “are only for someone who is guilty, and I have never been a slumlord,” Sharma said angrily, responding to Bobb’s comment.
Bobb insists that there were serious problems with Sharma’s building.
When inspectors first cited Sharma late last year, then reinspected the building on Jan. 9 “they found a slum,” Bobb said.
However, most tenants seem to agree that Sharma has been a decent landlord.
“The manager has been strict about keeping the bad elements out of here,” said Alberta Villa, a mother of six who has lived in the building for five years. “In the last two months they have repaired my kitchen, new baseboards, new tiles, new carpet. It’s fine now--but it was fine before.”
Most important to tenants, Sharma does not raise the rent every year. And, according to city rent officials, he has never applied for a special rent increase to recoup the extensive cost of earthquake safety work and sprinkler installation.
Sharma said he spent $155,000 on the messy seismic repair job and completed it well before his city-issued deadline later in the 1990s. Crews ripped up support walls throughout the building--as required by the city--and installed braces that will help the building withstand an earthquake.
It was during that work in late November, city records show, that building and health inspectors made their first surprise visit. Among numerous citations issued to Sharma were some noting falling plaster and debris.
“It seems like a bad joke,” Sharma said. “I got a violation for doing construction required by the city to make the building safe.”
Bobb responded that seismic work may have created some of the mess, but said it “would not cause missing smoke detectors, broken fire doors, and no heat in some apartments.”
Looking back, Sharma says he “can only believe this is about my brother. Now we will just have to see how things turn out in court.”
