Landlord sued over Morro Bay apartments
14.04.2005, 13:22
California Rural Legal Assistance has filed a lawsuit against a Morro Bay landlord alleging unsafe and unsanitary conditions at three units at the Belvedere Apartments on Monterey Street.
The apartments are moldy and poorly ventilated, have faulty wiring and are infested with cockroaches, according to the suit filed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court against Lee Brazil of Brazil Properties.
Brazil, the lawsuit alleges, "has permitted and caused, directly or indirectly, unsafe, unsanitary, and uninhabitable conditions to exist in each of the plaintiffs' units ... in violation of applicable housing, health, and safety codes and laws."
Brazil disputes the allegations, claiming the renters are hard on the apartments.
"It's normal wear and tear," Brazil said of the condition of the apartments, located at 1125 Monterey Ave. in Morro Bay.
A code enforcement officer for the Morro Bay Police Department said Brazil's apartment complex is the worst in the city.
"Our position is the entire property is a public nuisance and needs to be totally rehabilitated or eliminated," said Officer Al Sengstock.
The city cited Brazil for numerous code violations at the building between 1995 and 1998 and pursued nine criminal charges against him when repairs were not made, Morro Bay city attorney Rob Schultz said. All except one were dropped when Brazil complied; he pleaded no contest to one count, paid a $100 fine and served a year probation, according to Schultz.
Apartments Bucharest
The city was preparing to file another code violation against Brazil when it learned that California Rural Legal Assistance was getting involved, according to Schultz. The city decided to step back and await the outcome of the suit, Schultz said.
The suit filed April 6 on behalf of three tenants alleges that Brazil has ignored repeated complaints and requests to repair the problems. It asks that Brazil repair the units, repay most of the rent that tenants have paid since moving in and pay damages for personal injuries, emotional distress, economic loss and other injuries.
The lawsuit lists similar complaints for all three units, which rent for $500 to $1,265: leaky roofs and bathroom faucets, an infestation of cockroaches, no ventilation equipment, moldy walls, and old and dirty carpets.
Tenants in the three-bedroom Apartment 9, which is named in the suit, showed The Tribune a window sill caked in mold, a broken heater and a cracked wooden porch floor. They also said electrical outlets don't work and said their roommate Venustiano Cervantes has repeatedly complained about that.
"Our apartment is one of the better ones around here," said Juan Sabala, a 22-year-old Morro Bay dishwasher. "People complain, and he doesn't do anything."
Maria Ibarra, who lives with her husband and two children in one bedroom of a two-bedroom apartment, "has scrubbed the carpets to remove the grime on them from years of use without replacement," according to the lawsuit.
Apartments Budapest
The smell of black mold has filled one bedroom as it snakes across the ceiling and down the walls; the windows are broken and missing locks and paint is chipping from the walls, the lawsuit states.
The tenants put up with their living conditions because it is all they can afford, said Michael Blank, directing attorney for the CRLA, which provides legal assistance to those who can't afford it. All of them are Spanish-speakers who work minimum wage-level jobs in hotels and restaurants along the Embarcadero.
They haven't moved, Blank said, because "there's no place else to move to and it's a two-block walk to work" -- a must when families share one car and both parents work one or more jobs.
"To move it takes first and last month's rent and that's a tremendous amount of cash," Blank said. "At minimum wage it's not going to happen."
Brazil, meanwhile, said his units are habitable and that the tenants have not taken proper care of them. He said the complaints from residents are "90 percent lies."
Twenty-year-old chef Luis Fabian lives with six roommates in a two-bedroom apartment named in the suit. According to the suit, the roof and windows leak, causing mold to form on the ceiling and walls; the wiring is faulty, causing the lights to flicker or go out when it rains; and the water heater is defective, causing the apartment to fill with the smell of gas.
"Things don't work, and people don't like living here," said Fabian, who says he stays because the complex is affordable and close to work.