Rental Service Enters Plea, Will Repay Clients

City prosecutors have extracted a no-contest plea and $10,000 restitution from the operator of two Burbank home-finding services that were accused of ripping off dozens of customers.

Under the plea agreement with Camelia Ossanian, a former official of Quality Rentals and Universal Properties, authorities said, the money will be paid to aggrieved customers who said they were tricked out of $150 apiece.

The defunct Burbank firms are but two of perhaps a dozen rental listing services that have sprouted in the past two years in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys--drawing hundreds of complaints about their services and refund policies. Many who claim to have been cheated are low-income students or workers, some with a limited command of English.

Ossanian, 22, helped run Quality and then opened Universal before her arrest last August by Burbank police.

Ossanian was ordered to perform 45 days of Caltrans work service and placed on three years of informal probation, in addition to paying the $10,000 restitution. She had entered no-contest pleas in Burbank Municipal Court to a misdemeanor charge of illegally operating a rental listing service, and a second count of threatening harm to a customer who sought a refund. Ossanian could not be reached for comment.

Her prosecution reflects heightened law enforcement scrutiny of this small but flourishing business in the wake of extensive reports by The Times and other media. Burbank Police Det. Cheryl Skinner said her investigation of Ossanian was helped greatly by stories in The Times.

Deputy Burbank City Atty. Robert Walters described the Ossanian plea May 7 as an “excellent disposition. . . . One of our major concerns was getting restitution to victims. The defendant was able to come up with $10,000 cold cash.”

The size of refunds will depend on how many valid claims are filed, Skinner said. For example, if there are 100 valid claims, the $10,000 fund would provide each customer with $100--or most of the money lost. Skinner said she already has about 70 complaints on file and will give applicants until Aug. 1 to file refund claims.

She said those seeking restitution should mail proof of payment and a copy of their contract with Quality or Universal to her at the Burbank Police Department, 272 E. Olive Ave., Burbank, CA 91510.

Along with the Ossanian case, the state Department of Real Estate last December revoked the rental listing service licenses of Quality Rentals and Properties Unlimited, which formerly operated in Glendale.

Last fall, Los Angeles police arrested Joseph E. Perez and Hugo Beltran, operators of Express Homes, a rental listing service in Van Nuys. Their trial on more than a dozen misdemeanor counts each of grand theft and state Business and Professions Code violations is scheduled for the end of this month, said Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Mark Lambert.

Authorities say such bogus operators lure customers with made-up ads for rentals that sound so attractive that the phones light up. Would-be renters are talked into paying $150 for lists of supposedly exclusive rental units, and promised refunds if they can’t find suitable homes.

But clients frequently complain that the listed units are either occupied, substandard or nonexistent--and that they get the runaround when they seek refunds.

“Typically, what happens is the people pay their fee, find that the rentals are unsatisfactory . . . and, of course, they don’t get their money back,” said Randy Brendia, an official with the state Real Estate Department.