Landlords

As the recession drags on, national retailers are mass mailing requests for rent reductions to their landlords. Does a small-business tenant stand a chance of getting the same relief? It's not easy, industry experts say. "The landlord has no obligation to reduce the rent any more than he has the obligation to increase your rent because you are making too much money," said Rafael Padilla, a principal at Par Commercial Brokerage in Santa Monica.

The owner of an apartment building that collapsed Sunday in Los Angeles' Koreatown, injuring four people, was convicted last fall of numerous fire and health code violations and agreed to sell all of his roughly 150 rental properties as part of a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time, records show. Frank McHugh, 82, of Marina del Rey was given three years to sell his apartment buildings in an agreement approved by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Spurgeon Smith.

A federal judge in Riverside said Monday that he was prepared to close a sprawling trailer park in Thermal within two weeks unless its owner presented a detailed plan to repair water, electricity and building code violations at the property that is home to 6,000 tenants. "If I get the feeling that this is not going to happen, I'm going to close the place down. I'll send out federal marshals, and that will be it," said U.S.

The landlord of a residential hotel near downtown Los Angeles who was accused of trying to drive out tenants by cutting phone lines, knocking down walls and ripping out sinks in the rent-controlled building pleaded no contest this week to 10 criminal counts, the city attorney's office announced Friday. Joon Ho Lee, 47, was placed on probation for three years and ordered to repair the building in the 100 block of East 21st Street within a year, authorities said.

A federal judge took partial control of the Duroville mobile home park Monday, appointing three overseers, including a former diplomat, to investigate conditions, make emergency repairs and temporarily take over all financial operations of the Thermal shantytown. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson in Riverside could have closed the park but decided instead to give the experts two months to make recommendations. "After 60 days I want to be able to make an intelligent decision," he said.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced Thursday that his office had reached a $1-million settlement with the owner of two skid row residential hotels accused of illegally forcing residents out of their rooms before the one-month point to keep them from becoming legal tenants. Authorities also accused the owner of moving out more than 200 occupants in order to convert units into upscale lofts without paying proper relocation assistance fees.

The Public Safety Committee of the Los Angeles City Council approved a package of gun control measures Monday that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants with illegal firearms and ammunition, place new requirements on ammunition vendors and allow the city to permanently seize cars from some gang members.

A judge Thursday blocked a law requiring landlords to verify the citizenship of potential tenants, a day before it was to go into effect in this Dallas suburb. A judge granted a temporary restraining order after a claim saying open-meetings laws were violated when the ordinance was approved and adopted. The measure, passed unanimously by the City Council in November, requires property managers or owners to verify renters' immigration or citizenship status. A hearing was set for Jan.

WITH apologies to David Letterman, the Top Five reasons why landlords hate rent control are: No. 1. As private citizens, they believe they shouldn't be forced to do government's job of providing low-cost housing. No. 2. In few sectors of private enterprise does a city tell a business how much it may charge. No. 3. Rent-control buildings sell for less, even in high-rolling realty days. No. 4.

I recently moved out of a place I temporarily rented. It was just a rest stop, a place to recover from a reality OD: lost marriage, lost career, lost home, lost balance, lost confidence, lost spirit. I lived there for 17 years. In Los Angeles, where the lost seek to find or be found, frequent moving is a survival sport--the average tenancy for renters is five years, so staying in one spot for a 17-year stretch must be some kind of record. At least it is for me.