2 Services That List Rentals Are Scolded : Housing: State agency issues refrain orders to Valley firms that clients have complained do not give promised refunds.
The California Department of Real Estate has reprimanded two San Fernando Valley rental listing services that have been targets of dozens of lawsuits and consumer complaints.
The agency issued citations, called desist and refrain orders, to Valley Management of Van Nuys and Quality Rentals of Burbank. Officials of the firms could not be reached for comment. The Times reported earlier this month that the Real Estate Department and police in Van Nuys, Burbank and Glendale had been flooded with complaints from angry renters who accused the home-finding businesses of lying about their services and refund policies.
The companies typically charge a $150 fee to provide and update lists of available houses and apartments. Under state law, they are required to refund all but a $25 service charge to clients who don’t find a suitable rental, but many customers said they were refused their promised refunds.
By last summer, complaints to the Real Estate Department, which regulates the rental services, were “pouring in,” an official said. But the orders issued Wednesday did not directly address those complaints.
For example, neither order mentioned problems with refunds, the main subject of complaints. Nor did the orders cite the companies’ use of contracts that were not pre-approved by the Real Estate Department, as state law requires.
The orders directed each firm to cease operating without a required state license.
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Valley Management lacks a license, but is also out of business--having abruptly closed in October after promising refunds to numerous customers, according to customers and the firm’s former landlord.
When the firm shut down, another unlicensed rental service, Sunwest Properties, opened an office in Studio City that was rented by Richard S. Toohey and Michael Jackson, the same men who had operated Valley Management. A Sunwest official said the firms were not connected.
No order has been issued to Sunwest, and the Valley Management order did not mention the firm.
Asked why the department moved against a defunct firm that lacked a license, instead of an active, unlicensed firm, an official cited delays caused by a heavy caseload.
“We are aware of the problem and I can assure you that we are in the process of addressing (it),” said Randy Brendia, regional enforcement chief for the real estate department in Southern California.
“What I can’t assure you is they (Sunwest) won’t be gone by the time we” take action, Brendia said.
Detective John Metcalf, of the LAPD’s bunco forgery division, said he is investigating Sunwest because he’s “aware that Sunwest Properties appears to be operating without a license.”
The Quality Rentals order also directed that firm and its owner, Vickie L. Cardoza, to cease operating without a license--even though the order acknowledged that the firm has had a license since August.
Cardoza had operated a Glendale rental listing service called Properties Unlimited, which closed last summer after being named in about 20 lawsuits in small claims court. She opened Quality Rentals in Burbank in July a few weeks before getting a state license.
Department officials said Cardoza’s action could have been grounds for denial of a license to Quality Rentals.
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Asked why the department raised the issue now instead of then, Brendia admitted, “It doesn’t make much sense. . . . I can’t put a happy face on it. I can only tell you the truth.”
However, Brendia said, the license problem now is part of the firm’s operating record. If “someone (a prospective customer) calls up, they can find out.”
The department has the power to suspend or revoke licenses. Brendia declined to comment when asked if the department is considering further action against Quality Rentals.
But referring to complaints about the firm, Brendia said, “I’d be a darn fool . . . if I had that information and did nothing with it, and I’m not a damn fool.”
