Something must be done about Landlord Tenant Commission

Re: Wesley Green’s letter of Sept. 4.

Thank you, Wesley. Perhaps for some, the Landlord Tenant

Commission works quite well. For others, it doesn’t.

Approximately five years ago, one tenant group “fired” the

commission and went straight to the City Council for help.

I am not the only person who has had issues with the Landlord

Tenant Commission. When I took my survey about the commission about a

month ago, I only heard from one person. This, however, does not

surprise me. This person’s comment was, “They are nice, but not very

helpful.” I know of several others who did not find the commission

that helpful, even when the landlord was wrong.

Something has to be done about the commission. I’ve heard too many

comments such as, “We can’t do anything about that.” I’ve heard,

“I’ll get the information for you and call you back.” Did the

commissioner call back? No. I had to call back three times, and each

time the commissioner told me, “I will get the information and call

you back.” He never did.

One commissioner even asked me why I brought up the fact that I

was a family caregiver for a parent with dementia, since it was in

the past. For the commissioner’s information, no caregiver gets over

caring for a loved one with such a horrible disease for five years at

the drop of a hat. No caregiver gets over grieving a loved one

overnight. It takes time. There doesn’t seem to be any empathy from a

commission that should have it.

As I have stated, another issue I have with the commission is

knowledge. Wesley put it correctly when he said to make sure we have

top-caliber people. Just because someone is or was a landlord does

not mean that he or she is top caliber.

I could not go to the closed session in Glendale, but I attended

the City Council meeting there to speak about just-cause evictions. I

had to pretend I didn’t hear some of the comments landlords made.

They have forgotten they are in the customer service business. No,

they should not be taken advantage of by bad tenants, but they need

to know what is reality and a myth. They also seem to have forgotten

some very important laws. In fact, one landlord from Glendale said

something about not having to do anything for a tenant who is

disabled.

In case any landlord in Burbank has the same idea, this is not

correct. There is a law called the Fair Housing Act. Landlords are

required by that law to make reasonable accommodations in the rules

to assist those who are disabled. Even under rent control, do

landlords follow the law? The answer is, not always. I would like to

see more landlords follow the law and act ethically.

All landlords (managers and owners) should know all the laws --

state, federal, Fair Housing, landlord laws and tenants’ rights. They

don’t.

Wesley mentioned that rent control has not been proved to work

well. I lived under rent control in North Hollywood and Panorama City

for a total of about nine years before I moved to Burbank. Of course,

we are talking about a number of years ago, when I first came to

California. Things were different then. I never had any problems

getting things done in my apartment under rent control.

With rent control can come just cause evictions. Landlords say

that with just-cause evictions, they can’t evict bad tenants. Some of

them don’t anyway. However, on the other side of the coin, having

just-cause evictions in place will save good tenants from being

evicted. Case in point: There is a complex in Woodland Hills that is

under rent control. The manager is giving a blind man and an elderly

frail woman a hard time. I know she wants them to leave. So she is

making their lives miserable so they will move. However, she doesn’t

have just cause to evict, which is saving them from being evicted. I

bet that if this building was in Burbank, a blind man and a frail

elderly tenant would already have been evicted. What that manager is

doing to these people is not only unethical, it is illegal.

Yes, we do have to improve the Landlord Tenant Commission so it

works right. I have suggested the City Council give the commission

sensitivity, customer service and interpersonal skills training. I

also would like the council to educate it in the Fair Housing Act

regarding children and the disabled, and have the council re-evaluate

it in less than four years and before their individual terms are

over.

Wesley is correct when he says we need to place top-caliber

people. I will go one step further and just say that we need them to

have excellent interpersonal skills, knowledge, etc. Being a landlord

and even a lawyer do not necessarily make top-caliber commissioners.

I hope the City Council is listening now, since this has been taken

up by more than one voice.

EDEN ROSEN

Burbank