Malibu : Council Joins Rent Dispute

Malibu’s council-elect agreed this week to referee a fight between the Adamson Cos. and Point Dume Mobile Home Park residents after angry homeowners protested terms of their proposed new lease Tuesday night.

“Their goal is to drive us out of our homes,” said Joseph Simon, spokesman for the more than 50 homeowners who showed up at the council meeting. “We’re the only moderate income housing left in Malibu. They want to turn the park into Beverly Hills. They’re charging us for everything but the air we breathe.”

Residents of the 57-acre, 297-unit park own their homes, but rent space from the Adamson Cos., one of Malibu’s largest landowners.

The proposed lease would pass on to residents all new taxes, fees for sewer hookups and the cost of local services. It specifically forbids tenants from subleasing their homes for any reason, including hospital stays, and exempts the park from rent control ordinances.

“There’s no cap on any of these charges,” Simon said.

Adamson has given residents until Dec. 15 to sign the new leases, even though many of the current leases do not expire until 1993.

“Why the rush?” asked homeowner Eleanor Hecht. “We think it’s because there’s a new state law coming into effect Jan. 1 to protect mobile home owners. That’s why.”

The council voted to help the homeowners renegotiate the lease and to make Malibu’s mobile home parks the cornerstone of the new city’s low-moderate income housing plan.