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WILL THE LUNACY NEVER END?

In an attempt to continue harassing landlords, State Senator Sheila Kuehl introduced yet another bill to further erode the Ellis Act. If she isn’t going after the Costa-Hawkins law, then she is attacking the Ellis Act.

This new bill requires property owners who Ellis their buildings to wait five years (instead of two years) after filing a notice of intent to withdraw the building from the rental market before charging market rents.

The Lookout quotes Sheila Kuehl, “Tenants must be protected from evictions, based on trickery….”

The law would also require a landlord to give a tenant 24-hour notice before entering a unit.

How crazy can things get? No mention is made of how many owners have taken property off the market by Ellising and then gone back in business after two years. I’m guessing very, very few. You probably can count them on the fingers of one hand. That certainly requires emergency legislation from the state.

How many owners don’t know that you have to give 24-hour notice to tenants before entering a unit? That rule has been on the books forever. Why duplicate it again? That must require emergency legislation from the state lawmakers!

When Tom Hayden was state senator, you knew he disliked you. He hated landlords and made no attempt to conceal it. He wouldn’t meet with owners and did all he could do to treat them with contempt.

Sheila Kuehl, on the other hand, takes the love and kisses approach. She will meet with owners, CAA, and ACTION. She never raises her voice, or loses her cool, and is so very approachable.

At least Tom Hayden let you know where you stood. While Sheila outwardly gives you the impression that she is a normal and represents all of her constituents, nothing could be further from the truth. She is as radical as they come and uses her outward demeanor to make you think she is a rational and reasonable person. Based on my observations, Sacramento is filled with people of this ilk— all democrats.

A GREAT MIRACLE HAPPENED HERE!

Those of you who read my column regularly are aware that I have been trying to get a permit to build a home and two units over garages in Sunset Park. The City of Santa Monica had the plans since August 2000. It took twenty months, but we finally got a permit on April 15, 2002! On April 16, 2002 we started demolition. You didn’t think we were going to wait around– who knew if they would change their minds. All we are doing is replacing three units with another three units. I suppose we could consider ourselves lucky. I know people who have waited three years to clear city hall’s maze of obstacles.

The entire procedure was a joke. The process is designed to delay; to postpone; and to drag it out— all by design. I mentioned to you that we got caught up in the City’s new “HOW WE DOIN’” campaign. They say this concept was designed to “expedite” the permit procedure. What it really accomplished was to add another layer of bureaucracy to the mix. After that, it was more signatures, more forms to fill out, and more people to see for approvals. You try to call the person in charge (whose name I will not mention) and she never responds. You get the run around and talk to assistants… nothing ever comes of it. Closing City Hall every other Friday, is definitely no help at all. Letting people go home at 2:00 PM is also a problem. Hiring incompetents is also a very large problem. We got consent to deal with such things as parking, etc., only to come back months later and were told that we were not in compliance. Fortunately, we were not that dumb. We merely showed the bureaucrat copies of the approval he gave months earlier or we would still be fighting.

The toughest of all, was that the City wanted us to make the property accessible for handicapped. This would have required us to have wider doors, a ramp at the entrance and “lower” kitchen cabinets. That would be necessary in the event that the “next owner” would be in a wheelchair so he could turn fau-cets on and off easier. That requirement stretched us to the limits of credulity.

My assessment of the entire procedure is:

1) The City of Santa Monica does not want development.
2) The entire procedure is designed to delay; and postpone.
3) A person who has large carrying costs can easily go bankrupt while waiting.
4) Many people have thrown up their hands in disgust and abandoned their project. That is the goal of the City of Santa Monica.

The only item that the City of Santa Monica has not figured out is: how to take your property away from you. If they could, they would. I’ll keep you informed as we progress through construction.

Thanks for reading.

Go to the Members Only section to find out about collecting damages as a result of ACTION’s Security Deposit case victory.