Letters to the Editor: Small landlords are being hounded out of L.A. Maybe that’s what our leaders want
To the editor: When I read Joshua Kamali’s article on the plight of small L.A. landlords, I wanted to stand and applaud — and cry too.
We too are mom-and-pop landlords, and we own four units. We take our responsibilities as housing providers very seriously, but we and people such as Kamali have been completely abandoned and actually targeted by the Los Angeles City Council and L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
Phone companies, grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, pharmacies — were any of these businesses expected to continue providing their service for free during the COVID-19 pandemic? Small landlords were, and we are still are being shackled.
We have glowing letters of thanks from tenants from 20 years in this business, but an experience we recently had with one squatter soured us. As Kamali stated, if policies such as rent freezes and free lawyers for tenants facing eviction become the norm, small landlords like us will leave Los Angeles.
But maybe that’s what the City Council and County Board of Supervisors want.
Kathy McGrath, Sherman Oaks
..
To the editor: Kamali gave an excellent and accurate analysis of the eviction defense fund now available to rent-defaulting tenants.
The only defense for non-payment of rent is the unit’s lack of habitability. The funds for this program should be used instead to help re-establish these people as paying renters. This would avoid many evictions and justify the use of public funds.
Defense attorneys merely delay the inevitable. In doing so, they obtain free rent for their clients while denying the housing provider their right to repossess and re-rent the apartment, a form of legalized theft.
Julia Araiza, Tustin
..
To the editor: Kamali owns “only”12 units. And he wants us to believe he’s a meager blue-collar worker scraping his pennies together to get by.
Twelve units is a lot of property, Mr. Landlord.
And Kamali has the answer to all our problems. Let’s have the city run all housing proposals by him first for his input.
Really? Give me a break.
Michael Harold, West Los Angeles
..
To the editor: In his plea to protect small landlords against excessive legal charges incurred by tenants resisting eviction, Kamali misses one key point.
The more small landlords sell their local properties, the more likely large corporations will buy these properties with the intent of constructing luxury apartments and condominiums in their place, further depleting the availability of affordable housing.
As those most likely to rent out decent affordable housing, small landlords deserve protection against unscrupulous tenants.
Jonathan Kaunitz, Santa Monica
