CALABASAS : Firm, City to Meet About Rent Hikes

A representative of a property management company accused of price gouging will meet next week with city officials to discuss renters’ claims that the landlord is trying to take advantage of a tight housing market created by the Northridge earthquake.

The City Hall meeting with Lincoln Property Co. was scheduled after tenants complained recent rent increases at Lincoln Malibu Meadows were unfair.

Scott Morrison, regional property manager of Lincoln Property Co., will be at City Hall on Feb. 1 to meet with Mayor Karyn Foley, City Manager Charles Cate, Planning Commission Chairman Richard Wollard and City Atty. Casey Vose, city officials said.

Foley said rent increases in the 3% to 4% range are considered fair. Anything higher, she said, could be seen as gouging. Foley said she believes the city will find no evidence of wrongdoing.

“I think we’re going to find that the rents conform to the rents in the neighborhood, that they are market rents based on supply and demand,” she said.

The council, meanwhile, is considering anti-gouging ordinances to protect renters and consumers.

Morrison could not be reached for comment Monday. But he said in a recent interview that he would be happy to meet with city officials and that there are “two sides to every story.”

Tenants complained to the council after receiving rent increases that they say exceed fair market value. One tenant, Anthony Pecoraro, said he and his wife moved to the 600-unit Lincoln Malibu Meadows from Sherman Oaks after their rent-controlled apartment was destroyed in the quake.

They signed a one-year lease for $1,055 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, he said. That was $210 a month more than their old place, he said.

As the Pecoraros’ lease was about to expire, their new landlord offered them a choice: Sign an eight-month lease at an additional $45 a month, or pay an additional $309 a month to continue on month to month.