Tenants No. 1 Priority of Apartment Owners

Finding and keeping good tenants is the No. 1 priority of Valley and Ventura County apartment owners, according to an industry survey released Tuesday.

The desire to retain tidy, rent-paying tenants is intensified by Valley vacancy rates of up to 17% in areas hard-hit by the Northridge earthquake and the rising costs of eviction proceedings, said Mary Ellen Hughes, executive director of the Apartment Assn. of the San Fernando Valley/Ventura County, which commissioned the survey.

“The economic downturn, the earthquake and the loss of jobs in the area have caused the Valley apartment owners to have less prospects” as far as renters go, she said.

Based on the qualitative study conducted by Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger’s research division, the association has already begun offering tenant credit checks after-hours and on weekends, she said.

Other concerns found in the telephone survey of apartment association members and lapsed or nonmembers were laws they believe unfairly favor the tenant. While well-intended, rigid eviction regulations can draw the process out for months, costing owners upward of $1,000, Hughes said.

Many apartment owners also mourn the increasing lack of respect that tenants and owners pay each other, she said, too often choosing litigation over mediation. “Both sides believe that they are the put-upon side,” she said.

The Van Nuys-based association--with annual dues ranging from $90 to $500, based on the number of units--is one of six in the county.