Ojai is a small town where gossip travels fast--especially when prefaced with the admonition, This is confidential. Dont tell anyone. By now many of you reading this have probably heard that my family is being sued for $10,000 by a tenant who got behind on her rent while living on our family compound. Her claim, filed in Ventura Superior Court, states that we owe her a refund on rent plus moving expenses for Rent illegally collected on an illegal garage conversion. I say we because although only my ninety-one year-old father and youngest sister are named as defendants, the time, energy, and money spent on this lawsuit is coming out of my pocket and my time too. In a Letter dated ten days prior to the filing of this lawsuit, the tenant reminded us that she is owed a sum of $10,000.00 because the apartment she has been living in for almost two years is an uncoded, unpermitted, converted garage apartment, with several code and safety violations. Ojai City Code Enforcement [after being contacted by the tenant] inspected this illegal garage apartment and then informed her that it will be turned back into a garage and that she must leave. A week after this inspection, (initiated by the tenant), my sisters request to the City for an extension of time allowed for corrective action/repairs to bring the garage apartment up to code, was granted. The tenant continues to use the apartment as her office, rent free, even though she claims the conditions are unsafe. Our offer to waive past unpaid rent, and to pay for her first and last months rent on a new apartment of her choice, and moving expenses, was refused. The tenant claims that she is entitled by law in the County of Ventura to have twenty-two months rent returned to her. In addition, she claims there will be moving fees, and therefore she demands payment in the amount of $10,000.00. Ive always viewed this tenant as a friend, so the recent revelation that a lawsuit was in the works came as a shock to me. After I recovered from the initial feeling that I had just been kicked in the stomach, my mind flashed back on all the funky old one-room huts, converted garages, trailers parked in orange groves, and old housing built in the 1930s or 40s, that Ive lived in over the years. Not once in the forty-eight years that Ive been a renter (starting at age 17) has it ever even occurred to me to sue my landlord---not even when I had a five-year lease on a commercial building that leaked. If I was unhappy with my living quarters or place of business, I either made improvements myself, negotiated with the landlord, or moved on. Before I go any further, a little history on the property on which this garage apartment is located, is in order. Back in the late 1960s and early 70s, I helped take care of the previous property owner. When she passed away, her daughter sold the property to my family. My sisters and I raised our children here for many years. In fact, Ojais representative to the State Assembly, Das Williams, spent a good portion of his childhood playing on this property. In 1995, my youngest sister built a three-story house on the property. She has five children, and, like countless other families, at some point when her son and his wife needed an affordable place to live while going to college, she added a stove and refrigerator to the garage, which previously served as a playroom and guest room. From there a series of family members, including myself, as well as friends and acquaintances, rented the spacious, clean one-room apartment. Every tenant, including the one now suing my family, told me on numerous occasions how happy they were to live in a beautiful, rural setting, only a ten-minute walk from downtown Ojai. If the tenant (i.e., the Plaintiff) succeeds in her lawsuit, her case has far reaching implications for other landlords and tenants involved in the rental agreement of an illegal garage, spare room apartment conversion, or other unpermitted living space (Granny Unit). As a precedence for her suit in Small Claims Court, the tenant cites the 2009 case of Espinoza vs.Calva. To the best of my understanding, some legal experts interpret this case to mean that renters of an unpermitted, illegal living space can get all of their rent returned to them. In other words, if you are living at the poverty level and someone is willing to rent you a more affordable, unpermitted space on their property, you may well be sitting on a goldmine. Evidently, one way you can turn your life around is to sue your landlord. For you honest citizens who cant even fathom that this is remotely possible, Google the case of Espinoza v. Calva. In short, this decision from California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal says this: If you are renting out a unit that has not been permitted for occupancy, don’t count on being able to collect a judgment against a tenant who defaults on the rent. Maria Espinoza had rented a unit to two tenants, Gudelia Calva and Jorge Soqui. After three months of non-payment of the $750 monthly rent, Espinoza had them evicted. In a court proceeding at Orange County Superior Court the eviction action was upheld and the landlord was awarded possession of the premises. As a defense, the tenants had raised various claims about the sub-standard conditions of the unit, including the fact that it had not been certified for occupancy. Source: Reality Times June 2009 edhat/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=130365 Theres never a good time to be sued but I cant think of a worse time then when ones days on earth are coming to an end. My father has been coping with prostrate cancer for five years. Hes fragile, emaciated, often in pain with barely enough energy to eat and take care of himself. For him the humiliation of a police officer knocking on the door, being served the Order to Go to Small Claims Court was like being hit by a 2x4. This lawsuit is a dark cloud hanging over his head. And it is taking valuable time and resources away from the demanding task of caring for my parents. It may be perfectly legal to sue your landlord, but is it ethical?
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 23:09:52 +0000
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