HOLLYWOOD : Landlord Told to Clean Up Building or Tear It Down
The owner of a vacant Hollywood apartment house has until Feb. 1 to repair his 36-unit facility or begin tearing it down, the city attorney said Wednesday.
David Foley, 40, pleaded no contest to six violations of various health and building safety codes at the four-story apartment house at 5244 Melrose Ave., said Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn.
Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau ordered Foley to pay $8,126 in fines and other costs and placed him on three years probation.
One of the conditions of his probation is that he show proof at a Feb. 8 hearing that he has either made the repairs or secured the building in preparation of its demolition.
Foley, owner of Realty Partners Ltd., also has been told not to rent any units in the complex unless the building is brought into compliance with codes, said Deputy City Atty. Michael Wilkinson.
The sentence is unusual, Wilkinson said, because city prosecutors usually try to force slumlords to repair buildings and return them to the city’s habitable housing stock, rather than raze them.
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