Suit Accuses Landlord of Trying to Coerce Tenants Into Leaving

The city has filed a lawsuit accusing an apartment building owner of trying to coerce his tenants into vacating so he could raise the rent on the units.

The city attorney’s office said it was the first lawsuit filed under a year-old city ordinance against tenant harassment.

The suit alleges that landlord George Bassiry began harassing tenants soon after he bought the 19-unit building in the 100 block of Hollister Avenue in April.

Deputy City Atty. Adam Radinsky said nine of Bassiry’s tenants submitted sworn complaints testifying that their landlord had verbally harassed tenants; arbitrarily taken away their parking spaces, storage areas and personal belongings; illegally increased rent, and threatened not to perform any repairs for two years.

If found liable, Bassiry could be fined $500 for each act of harassment, Radinsky said.

Bassiry said Monday he has been making good-faith efforts to repair the building but has been hampered by tenants who purposely damaged their apartments.

“I asked people to clear the hallway and since then they have been harassing me,” he said. “This is really taking advantage of the law.”

The Santa Monica City Council passed the Tenant Harassment Ordinance in July 1996 in response to a 1995 state law that weakened local rent control ordinances. The state law allows landlords to raise the rent 15% with every voluntary vacancy--a significant change in Santa Monica, where the city’s tough rent control law had long prohibited rent increases when tenants moved out.