Anaheim Tenants to Get Rebates in Eviction Dispute
An apartment building owner and his Anaheim tenants said Thursday they have reached an agreement that will allow the landlord to proceed with evictions but give tenants rent rebates and letters of reference so they can find new places to live.
“They were very tough negotiations,” said Joe Caux, landlord-tenant manager for the Fair Housing Council of Orange County, which helped negotiate the settlement with landlord Sam Menlo. “The only reason it came about was because the tenants organized.”
Under the agreement, each of the more than 200 families living in Ridgewood Gardens Apartments on North Temple Street will receive full refunds of their security deposits and letters of reference to demonstrate to other landlords that the evictions were not because they were bad tenants. The plan also allows tenants to stay in the building into the spring, well beyond the 30 days Menlo had given them to get out, and gives them rent rebates of 20% to 100%, depending on when they move.
The pact allows more time for the tenants, many of whom are low-income families who do not speak English well, to find new apartments in Orange County’s tight market and enough cash to pay security deposits, Caux said.
Many tenants, however, still are not happy that they have to move so soon. Under the plan, tenants who move out before Jan. 20 are eligible for 100% rent rebate for December and January, while tenants who stay until April 20 receive only a 20% rebate for the months of December through April.
“I think this is not fair,” said Maria Resendiz, who was on the team that negotiated with Menlo’s attorney, Kevin Mello. “We have lived there for many years and have always paid the rent on time.”
Resendiz, who has lived in the complex for 14 years, said many tenants wanted more time to relocate.
“It’s very difficult around here,” she said. “But we didn’t have the power to get more.” The Fair Housing Council has been working with tenants since November after they began receiving eviction notices and rent increases of $50 to $100 on their two-bedroom apartments, most of which now rent for $850 a month.
Many tenants said they believe the eviction notices were handed out in retaliation for their complaints about the run-down state of their apartments, which are plagued by rodents, cockroaches, leaky toilets, mold and mildew.
In October, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayes sentenced Menlo to live in the complex for 60 days as punishment for failing to improve conditions. Soon after moving into a refurbished apartment, however, Menlo apparently suffered a stroke on Nov. 25. Though he has been released from the hospital, he returned to his 8,500-square-foot home in Los Angeles rather than take up residence among his tenants.
Tenants were planning to take Menlo to court, but the Fair Housing Council stepped in and helped them negotiate.
Mello said tenants are being evicted so the buildings can be refurbished beyond what the court had ordered.
The agreement “makes everyone relatively content,” he said. “The owner gets what he wants, . . . to have the property vacant to make repairs. And [for] the tenants, depending on their overall needs, it gives them hopefully enough cash to find another place.”
