Mobile-Home Park Accused of Overbilling

The owners of a Sylmar mobile-home park were charged Thursday with violating the city’s rent control law by boosting rents on 11 spaces by 6% to 15% annually.

In a 98-count misdemeanor complaint filed by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, owners of Los Olivos Mobile Home Park were accused of billing excessive rents over the past year, said Deputy City Atty. Mike Wilkinson.

City rent control regulations limit annual rent increases to 5%.

The owners of the 81-space park were identified as Richard Dunn, 77; his wife, Paula, 62; James Dunn, 44; Paula Long, 43, and Nina Dunn, 43. None could be reached Thursday for comment.

The maximum penalty for each violation of the rent control ordinance is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Wilkinson said the complaint was filed about 14 months after the Los Angeles City Council, prodded by complaints by tenants of parks, passed urgency legislation stating that the city’s rent control ordinance applied to mobile-home parks where construction had taken place since October, 1978. Before the council’s action, a state Court of Appeal had ruled that the law did not apply to such parks, he said.