COSTA MESA : Landlord Faces Jail for Code Violations

A self-appointed government watchdog who has sparred repeatedly with city officials was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for violating probation relating to a previous court order to bring property he owns up to city standards.

But Harbor Municipal Judge Susanne S. Shaw will allow Sid Soffer to avoid most of that sentence if he cleans up the yard at 540 Bernard St., gets rid of two trailers and several old cars and converts two apartment units into the garage and playroom they used to be.

The judgment, which mandates 30 days in Orange County Jail starting Jan. 3, comes after years of battles between the city and Soffer over his property.

“Game over, Mr. Soffer,” Shaw said. “You knew what you had to do to comply and everyone tried to work with you.”

Shaw took the unusual step of visiting the property Monday morning to see for herself what building code officials and attorneys had tried to describe to her. At the house, she gasped at the dank smell of a messy downstairs apartment that had once been a garage.

She pointed to a falling ceiling and exposed wires in the upstairs unit and shook her head at the sight of old cars parked near the trailers and an overgrown back yard that also contained piles of antiques covered by a tarp.

“I’m in absolute awe that anyone could live in those conditions,” she said later in court. “I think your tenants’ health and welfare are endangered.”

Soffer, who is well-known in the city for dogging city officials and who acted as his own attorney in court, is involved in another fight with the city over old Cadillacs he keeps at his home at 900 Arbor St.

Tenant David Word, who has been renting the house for three years, said he hopes that the order does not mean that he and his family will be evicted. An antiques collector, Word stores goods at the property before selling them at auctions and collectors’ conventions.

In July, Soffer was found guilty on seven misdemeanor counts of code violations and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Under the terms of the probation, Soffer was to submit plans for bringing the property up to city standards.

City Planner R. Michael Robinson testified Monday that Soffer submitted inadequate plans and was sent a list of things he needed to do to bring the buildings to code. Since receiving that letter, Soffer did not submit any additional plans to fix the property, Robinson said.

Soffer said he plans to file an appeal in Orange County Superior Court in hopes of getting the sentence thrown out. In the meantime, he said he would start the process of evicting his tenants, including a woman with lupus and her daughter who live in one of the trailers. “Where is she going to find a place for $200?” Soffer said.

Assistant City Atty. Jerry Scheer, however, cited the hazardous conditions, including exposed electrical wires and unsafe plumbing and gas lines.

“These people living in the trailers, I assume, are using propane, and there’s a number of children there. I’m just real concerned there’s a fire hazard,” he said. “There’s a real, real reason for this.”