We just want to make clear, the opinions expressed in this post are those of a landlord and the landlord alone, and possibly Marissa. Following yesterday's decision on tenant relocation fees, strong feelings are bound to emerge. Strong confused feelings. FYI, the Tenant Relocation Fee adjustment is for City of LA, not the City of West Hollywood. Let's all try to be civil towards one another and not dance a jig because you're getting $17,000 to move. This is an email we received from one pissed off landlord in WeHo.
Many apartment owners are mom & pop operations. People who have spent their lives working hard, scrimping & saving, to invest in real estate- an apartment building, that could support them in their retirement years. In my case, I did it all alone with no help form anyone. I slaved all my life (sic), so one day I could afford to retire & live on my rental income. A lot of other people didn't work at all. Some have no ambition to get a job, instead choosing to live off the government. Many of these individuals also reap the benefits of becoming "low income tenants, " who have government organizations (sic) such as HUD to pay their rent.
I put my life saving & a lifetime of dreams into buying an apt. bldg. for my retirement. My 1st mistake was buying in the gay & lesbian pride City of West Hollywood, run by tenants for tenants, where landlords are discriminated against & have no rights. Tenants have all the rights.
The 2nd problem was a 35 yr. long old maid tenant with obviously no life who came along with the building, who also thinks she OWNS the building, challenging every rule or change that takes place. Worse yet, she works for a lawyer as a paralegal & uses her legal savvy (sic) to "frame me" by building up a bogus case against me as an alleged harassing, negligent landlord, by way of lodging (sic) non-stop complaints, lawsuits, and even filing criminal charges against me. Did I mention she pays 1/5 of the market rent for a 2 BR apt. in a world-famous building in the heart of West Hollywood? My LAWYERS FEES to defend myself against this tenant-from-hell EXCEED the rent controlled low rent that I make in an entire year!!! So short of unloading the building to another victim, my only alternative is to convert to condos. It's bad enough that I have pay tenants huge amounts of money to move, tenants who have already gotten away with a "free ride" for years on my investment, but the city now thinks they need even more money to end the free ride!!! After the mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, gas, electric, maintenance, gardener, trash removal, fines, attorneys fees, court costs, along with the condo conversion fees for relocation, architect, permits, contractor, marketing, escrow, sales commissions, etc. WHERE'S THE PROFIT for the landlord?
Real estate is a job & someone's investment. Nobody works for free, so why should I? Why should any landlord? So the tenants can live for free?
-R**** landlord (name withheld)