PARTIAL VICTORY FOR DR. DV.

At the end of last year I told you three Stories about the amazing adventures of Dr. DV.

Rent Board Story Part 80, informed you about Dr. DV’s sinking building and how he spent approximately $375,000 fixing that problem as quickly as possible only to end up before a Rent Board hearing examiner in order to determine how much money he owes the tenants in six rent decrease cases. That was a result of the Board’s new Regulation 4400, which is titled, "Rent Decreases for Construction Impacts." In Rent Board Story Part 81, I informed you about the regular Decrease decisions rendered against the good Doctor for failing to provide such essential housing services as a recreation room, a sauna, free natural gas for the tenants’ decorative gas fireplaces and failing to keep the outdoor swimming pool heated all year long. At the time the Stories identified above were written, the Hearings Department had rendered dumb decrease decisions against Dr. DV, and I had appealed those decisions to the Board. Additionally, between November 2000 and January 2001 California experienced an electrical power shortage and natural gas prices reached the highest levels ever recorded. Although this may have caused problems for the rest of you, that solved many problems for DV.

When an apartment owner puts me on a case, they not only get a high level of services, I also take all actions necessary to make sure that they prevail, as unconventional as those actions may seem. In addition to writing three Rent Board Stories about Dr. DV, I also contacted the Public Utilities Commission and the Larry Elder radio show on KABC informing those entities that during a shortage of electricity and natural gas that our illustrious Rent Board was in the process of awarding rent decreases because Dr. DV wasnot providing free natural gas to the tenants’ natural gas fireplaces and heating the outdoor swimming pool this winter. Additionally, Gordon Gitlen sent the Board a letter informing it that if the administrative appeals were not concluded in a prompt manner litigation would soon commence. I am not sure which of the above-stated actions got the attention of the Board’s Legal Staff but at the end of December I received two Staff Reports which made the following recommendations.

First, the Staff Reports recommended that no rent decreases be allowed for "loss of parking" because Dr. DV had not decreased housing services when his building began collapsing on the underground parking garage. This was determined to be an "unavoidable impact" which did not reflect a decrease in housing services.

Second, the Legal Staff reviewed my documents which established that between 1977 and 1984 the Public Utilities Commission prohibited the use of natural gas for decorative purposes (including fire places) and therefore such use was illegal on the base rent date of April 1978. The Legal Staff agreed that housing services available on that date should not have been illegal. Third, the Legal Staff reviewed my documents which established that between 1977 and 1984 the Public Utilities Commission prohibited the use of natural gas for heating swimming pools unless those bodies of water were heated for medicinal or therapeutic purposes. Since none of the tenants claimed that Dr. DV was running a health spa or physical therapy facility on April 10, 1978, a heated swimming pool could not have possibly been a lawful building amenity.

The recommendations made in the Staff Report apparently upset some of the tenants because they responded in writing and included a photocopy of my Rent Board Story Part 81 titled, "More Harassment for Dr. DV." I found out about that at the Rent Board Meeting of January 11, 2001 when my appeals were considered. Shortly before that meeting began, Commissar Chairperson Toy let me know that the Board had extra copies of that article and asked if I would like some. I responded that I actually wrote THREE articles about these cases and asked him if he would like copies of the other two to place in the administrative record.. He must have sensed that I was unimpressed with his discovery because did not pursue the issue further. Thereafter, at the meeting of January 11, 2001 I had a lively discussion with the Board about DV’s Decrease Decisions and the Board overruled the hearing examiner’s decisions for the issues identified previously. As a result, the most interesting issues in Dr. DV’ cases were moot and he will may not appeal the decisions to court unless the Hearings Department decides to harass him some more by refusing to grant a compliance report on the other issues. That a shame in a way because Dr. DV’s decrease cases are such good examples of the idiotic decisions coming out of the Rent Board Hearings Department. However, as a result of the Dr. DV Rent Board Stories, an attorney with a different set of cases contacted me to assist him with a court appeal. In those cases, the Rent Board awarded the tenants over $137,000 of rent decreases based upon "construction related impacts" which resulted when that owner rehabilitated his building. That award was ten times greater than the punishment inflicted on Dr. DV.

Unfortunately, that owner did not want any publicity so I didn’t contact the Public Utilities Commission, radio shows or write about him in this column. However, I already knew about Rent Decrease Cases U-0001, U-0005-U-0009, U-0014 and W-0001 as a result of monitoring the Rent Board agendas, so if you want to know about those cases you can look them up at the Rent Board office. Maybe after reading Dr. DV’s Rent Board Stories, he will change his mind and decide that publicity is not such a bad thing after all. It didn’t do Dr. DV any harm.

This Story again illustrates what a strange place Santa Monica is. Seven years ago a big earthquake rumbled through Santa Monica on Martin Luther King Day and now the City looks so much better as a result of all the repairs and reconstruction caused by that "disaster." Now most Santa Monica landlords also celebrate Martin Luther King Day as "Earthquake Day." Along the same lines, the adventures of DV demonstrate that a collapsing building combined with a shortage of electricity and natural gas can be very beneficial. No more heated swimming pool or "free" natural gas fireplaces are required of Dr. DV!

Like I said, this is a very strange City. And if you don’t believe it, keep reading these Stories. After all, the Rent Board does.