Tuesday, February 11, 1997
First-time tenants learn their rights the hard wayBy Allison
Elmore
Daily Bruin Contributor
As naive young college students venture into the murky waters of
tenant rights and responsibilities, they naturally anticipate a
hassle or two. Perhaps they will suffer from such typical obstacles
as cramped spaces, sloppy roommates, even eccentric landlords.
Katrina Vargas, along with her three roommates, expected the
usual inconveniences, yet they were in for quite a surprise upon
encountering the magnitude of those "typical" apartment
hassles.
"We got totally ripped off. We were paying for a leaking,
crappy, roach-infested apartment," said Vargas, a third-year
international relations student.
"The building looks really nice from the outside," she
continued, describing her former Kelton Avenue complex. "You
wouldn’t think you’d have trouble, but it hardly lived up to the
claim of a ‘luxury’ apartment."
Because first-time tenants tend to be unaware of their rights,
they may find themselves in situations in which the management has
the upper hand. Landlords, however, allege that it is student
disregard for the law and failure to report needed repairs that
leads to difficulties.
Meir Ruhman, a landlord whose Westwood complex has been in his
family’s possession since 1958, claims that most disagreements he
has observed stem from students not abiding by the "most basic"
rental regulations, while he contends that landlords tend to follow
the "most common" regulations.
A number of students, nevertheless, remain largely unaware of
the most basic tenets of Los Angeles rental law. As Tia Reed,
Vargas’ former roommate, discovered, "We were uninformed or our
quote-un-quote rights."
According to the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance,
current residents of those rental units receiving their certificate
of occupancy prior to October 1978 Â with some exceptions
depending upon the type of units  may have their rent raised
no more than once every 12 months.
This allowable rent increase rate may not fall below 3 percent
or exceed 8 percent, the figure dependent upon the annual Consumer
Price Index for the Los Angeles area. Landlords, however, are not
required to enforce the entire increase rate in their rent hikes,
nor are they obligated to raise the rent whatsoever.
Rent stabilization guidelines also require that tenants who have
had their security deposits held by their landlord for at least the
prior 12 months be the recipients of 5 percent annual interest.
Furthermore, the California Civil Code mandates that the sum of
deposit cannot exceed two months rent for an unfurnished unit or
three months rent for a furnished unit. Nor can rental agreements
designate the security deposits as non-refundable.
California law, in addition to city codes, has even set a
precedent for minimum habitability standards of rental units. Exact
standards are prone to disputes, as Vargas discovered.
According to Vargas, her predicament began in the spring of
1995, when Los Angeles was plagued with rain. A roof leak in her
bedroom  existing since the first rains of winter  led
to the destruction of her mattress. Vargas claims that maintenance,
in an effort to fix the leak, merely placed a tarp upon the
apartment roof.
After repeated requests to effectively and permanently remedy
the leak, Vargas recalls she was told, "When they built these
apartments, they built them for sunny California."
Students say leaks and other minor violations of habitability
standards are not altogether uncommon in Westwood Village.
With the advent of new management in her Landfair Avenue
apartment complex, one student tenant complained that everything
went downhill.
"It smelled in the halls, and the elevators were just sick.
There was dirt and slime on the floor," explained Nancy Sandoval, a
third-year psychology student, of the new, altered state of her
building.
While the situation has since improved, Sandoval does note that
her apartment lacks heat, an issue she and her roommates have
failed to mention to management.
"We haven’t really needed (heat). I know we should complain, but
we’re never here … and we don’t feel like dealing with the
managers," Sandoval said.
As Sandoval alluded, the hectic schedules of students may
explain why students are at times apathetic regarding management
and apartment predicaments. With the majority of their time often
spent out of the apartment, less effort may be expended to remedy
apartment problems.
According to Westwood tenant Tom Tuchscher, the various
difficulties unique to his aging Landfair Avenue apartment are to
be expected.
"It’s old  you can’t get around that fact," said
Tuchscher, a fourth-year English student. His four roommates,
unable to resign themselves to this fact, complain to the landlord
often. Tuchscher reckons them to be, "complainers by nature."
Yet, even Tuchscher appears at least marginally aggravated that
the microwave and toaster oven cannot be operated simultaneously in
his apartment as they will throw the circuit breaker.
Using floor heaters this winter, due largely to an ineffective
heating thermostat, would throw the circuit breaker "like every 10
minutes," complained Tuchscher. As a result, the smoke detector
would beep in his bedroom every time he ran the heater. Finally, in
an act of disregard for city fire prevention laws, he removed the
detector from the wall.
It is actions such as these, or other tenant "improvements" that
Matt Klasila, a property manager with Tierra Properties Realtors,
warns directly against.
According to Kevin Postema, editor of Apartment Age magazine of
the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, only three types
of deductions may legally be acted upon security deposits, namely
unpaid rent, cleaning, and what he deems "above wear and tear."
The latter category, which would include displaced smoke
detectors, is also a hotbed of potential disputes between landlord
and tenant. In order to avoid such conflicts, Klasila recommends a
walk-through with a member of management immediately upon moving
in, with the discoveries of any apartment imperfections documented
on paper, thereby eliminating any potential blame being leveled
against the tenant.
Fledgling renters should also realize that a landlord’s
fundamental responsibilities include providing "clean, safe,
habitable housing" as well as responding to tenants’ requests for
service in a "timely fashion," noted Klasila.
Exceeding those basic obligations, "super service, mild-mannered
management and reasonable rent," are the expectations Postema
advises potential tenants should hold in their hunt for housing.
Their fruition, however, remains debatable.
As Vargas’ former roommate Reed discovered in her crash course
on renters’ rights, "Inform yourself before you go in."