Tenant harassment settlement funds educational programs
By CHRISTINA YOON Special to the Daily Press
CITY HALL In a nod to the city’s many renters, the City Attorney’s Office reached its largest-ever tenant harassment settlement on Tuesday. Local landlords Stacey and Megan Valnes have paid a total of $200,000 to City Hall and a former tenant who alleged that the couple forced her to move out of her rent-controlled apartment under false pretenses.
“This case is a cautionary tale for that small group of landlords who would consider using deception or intimidation to get their tenants to leave,” said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky in a statement released Tuesday. Radinsky is also head of the Consumer Protection Unit of the City Attorney’s Office.
The settlement comes one year after two separate tenant harassment suits were filed against the couple — one by the City Attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit and the second by their former tenant, 82-year-old Winifred Goodman. The suits were later consolidated for trial, which was scheduled to begin this month. They claimed that soon after purchasing a four-unit rental property on the 2300 block of Colorado Avenue, the owners asked Goodman to vacate her apartment in the building, claiming that the unit would be owner-occupied. Goodman, who declined to be interviewed, had lived in the unit since 1982 and was paying $529 a month in rent.
Doug Graham, Goodman’s attorney, said that after relocating to Simi Valley, Goodman kept in touch with some neighbors and discovered that the landlords had not moved in after all. Shortly after Goodman left, the owners had rented her apartment to a new tenant for $2,400 a month. Santa Monica law prohibits landlords from using “fraud, intimidation, or coercion” to make rent-controlled tenants vacate their homes.
“She didn’t believe that she had some of the rights she did have,” Graham said of Goodman, who still lives in Simi Valley.
The settlement disbursed $40,000 to City Hall and $160,000 to Goodman. The $40,000 is to be added to the Consumer Protection fund to educate housing providers and tenants about their rights and responsibilities. The fund pays for programs including an annual outreach program on fair housing held each April at Santa Monica public schools and educational seminars for landlords and tenants at the public library as well as the Ken Edwards Center.
Radinsky said that tenant harassment cases such as Goodman’s are rare in the City Attorney’s office these days.
“It’s gotten less common over the years as knowledge about the law has spread,” he said.
Still, Radinsky used this case as a valuable lesson for the city’s large tenant population; encouraging renters to contact the City Attorney’s office with any questions or complaints regarding their housing situation.
“It’s also a cautionary tale to tenants,” he said. “We encourage our local tenants to educate themselves as much as possible about their rights.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.