Chapter Three: Westside Rentals
One of the mysteries that befuddled me about this case was how a single-family house became three apartments with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, three kitchens and a studio apartment. In 2,047 square feet. With a combined rental asking price of $5,500.
No, it's not exactly solving the affordable housing problem but it does prove people can live in incredibly small spaces like ants.
My investigation took me to Westside Rentals, the company with the sign in front of the illegal conversion that's threatening the well-being of Tract 17111, my neighborhood.
If you believe the L.A. Times, Westside Rentals
provides a great service to the public and is a very successful business allowing landlords to put up listings free and charging prospective tenants $60 to see them. In a story on May 2 under the headline "How I Made It," the Times informed us that owner Mark Verge's Santa Monica-based company employs "80 people and lists about 20,000 apartments, houses and rooms for rent."
No mention is made that at least three of those listings at the time were for an illegal conversion that had been cited by the Department of Building and Safety for construction without a permit
Verge said his first big purchase when he got rich with his westsiderentals.com website was a $50,000 race horse named "Hide from the Bride" and he dreams of doing a reality TV show called "Rental Man" His motivation for getting into the rental listing business was pretty idealistic: "The business had a really bad name to it."
Since he is an idealist who advises "Meet everyone and treat them all the same" I figured I'd give him a call and see if he could take me through how the owners of this house found two tenants already and are looking for a third for the big unit, three bedrooms, two baths, $2,095 a month -- a $400 drop in the original asking price.
I asked to talk to Verge , explaining I was a journalist, and was immediately put through to Kevin Miller, head of operations, who was cordial and open about the fact the company is merely a go-between. Landlords put up their listings, people search the listings, contact the landlord and decide whether to rent the house or apartment.
"It's all their own business," he said. "We don't get involved at all."
I noted the contract people agree to when signing up is extremely long and detailed and frees Westside of all responsibility. So what happens when there are complaints, I asked.
"We don't get involved in that. It's all 'he said,' 'she said.' You got to take it with a grain of salt. We're not the police."
One of the mysteries that befuddled me about this case was how a single-family house became three apartments with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, three kitchens and a studio apartment. In 2,047 square feet. With a combined rental asking price of $5,500.
No, it's not exactly solving the affordable housing problem but it does prove people can live in incredibly small spaces like ants.
My investigation took me to Westside Rentals, the company with the sign in front of the illegal conversion that's threatening the well-being of Tract 17111, my neighborhood.
If you believe the L.A. Times, Westside Rentals
provides a great service to the public and is a very successful business allowing landlords to put up listings free and charging prospective tenants $60 to see them. In a story on May 2 under the headline "How I Made It," the Times informed us that owner Mark Verge's Santa Monica-based company employs "80 people and lists about 20,000 apartments, houses and rooms for rent."No mention is made that at least three of those listings at the time were for an illegal conversion that had been cited by the Department of Building and Safety for construction without a permit
Verge said his first big purchase when he got rich with his westsiderentals.com website was a $50,000 race horse named "Hide from the Bride" and he dreams of doing a reality TV show called "Rental Man" His motivation for getting into the rental listing business was pretty idealistic: "The business had a really bad name to it."
Since he is an idealist who advises "Meet everyone and treat them all the same" I figured I'd give him a call and see if he could take me through how the owners of this house found two tenants already and are looking for a third for the big unit, three bedrooms, two baths, $2,095 a month -- a $400 drop in the original asking price.
I asked to talk to Verge , explaining I was a journalist, and was immediately put through to Kevin Miller, head of operations, who was cordial and open about the fact the company is merely a go-between. Landlords put up their listings, people search the listings, contact the landlord and decide whether to rent the house or apartment.
"It's all their own business," he said. "We don't get involved at all."
I noted the contract people agree to when signing up is extremely long and detailed and frees Westside of all responsibility. So what happens when there are complaints, I asked.
"We don't get involved in that. It's all 'he said,' 'she said.' You got to take it with a grain of salt. We're not the police."
But what if it isn't a dispute between landlord and tenant but a report
of possible illegal activity by a landlord or someone posing as a
landlord who is up to no good. "Ever get any complaints like that?"
"Doesn't happen often," he answered. "We have a system for handling that sort of complaint but we wouldn't do anything about it unless there was a judgment or a court ruling or something."
Would "something" include a Building and Safety Department citation of illegal construction or an illegal conversion? My neighbors reported such a citation involving the house in our neighborhood but the listing is still up. Did your system catch that?
It turns out he wouldn't do anything unless he had a copy of the citation or other documents from government agencies. He couldn't recall that ever happening.
We talked a bit about whether there needed to be some regulation, some requirement, that gives people paying his company $60 to look at listings a reasonable expectation that they aren't being scammed, that their neighborhoods aren't being destroyed by illegal conversions.
"There's good people and there's bad people in this world," he said. "We're no different than Craig's List or the ads in the newspaper."
To be continued, click here for earlier chapters
"Doesn't happen often," he answered. "We have a system for handling that sort of complaint but we wouldn't do anything about it unless there was a judgment or a court ruling or something."
Would "something" include a Building and Safety Department citation of illegal construction or an illegal conversion? My neighbors reported such a citation involving the house in our neighborhood but the listing is still up. Did your system catch that?
It turns out he wouldn't do anything unless he had a copy of the citation or other documents from government agencies. He couldn't recall that ever happening.
We talked a bit about whether there needed to be some regulation, some requirement, that gives people paying his company $60 to look at listings a reasonable expectation that they aren't being scammed, that their neighborhoods aren't being destroyed by illegal conversions.
"There's good people and there's bad people in this world," he said. "We're no different than Craig's List or the ads in the newspaper."
To be continued, click here for earlier chapters
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the Naitonal Enquirer.
Can we use the "they" do it, but we can't as exhibits in court when we're on trial for scoffing at or breaking the law?
i think your neighbors should just hire bruno to patrol the property. problem solved.
Ron, aren't there some zoning laws to prevent this sort of butchery? And what is it doing to property values in your tract?
I'm appalled at what's happening to this city...next thing you know, we're going to be taxed extra for owning a single family dwelling. If Villar, Reyes and Alarcon had their way, we would all be living in projects, partioned rooms, and flophouses. Density, density, density...thy name is Tijuana Norte!
The answer to the riddle-"how a single family R1 zoned home becomes a three apartment rental complex". Do the following : trisect the home into three illegal units without building permits, add a 4th bathroom without a building permit, add two extra main kitchens without a permit in violation of building codes for this residential area, and flip ownership of the property in order to attempt to delay the City of LA enforcing the city codes. Most of all have a total disregard of the characture of this neighborhood- because greed and money is primary in ones life. The initial purchase of this bank foreclosure property was to immediatley trisect the home and never intending to live in it as a single family dwelling.
The mystery is solved!! Buy a bank foreclosed property in a R1 zoned single family home area. Trisect the home into three illegal apartment units. Disregard the building codes. Don't get city permits. Flip ownership when the heat gets too hot from the city. Leave any moral conscience aside and have a good day.
7/3/2008
After reading the stories in Ron Kay L.A. told not only by Ron, but also from those who commented. I am disappointed but not too surprised that the wonderful planning proposed 50-60 years ago and actually put into practice is now considered obsolete by the sons and daughters of the bureaucrats and developers who made good money building safe and attractive neighborhoods.
And, joined by the greedy among us, the law now reads: If you own a piece of property, you may do anything you want with it. So that same piece of property is worth a lot of money to somebody. Now the laws read, the city or county or state can take away your property because someone has proposed doing something with it that will make more money than if you continue to live in it yourself. And greed counts around here. You will not receive more money or you might think it worthwhile. As is, it is probably sold for the price of the land only, not the home. And of course, the price would include the costs in clearing the site which would bring the price of the land even lower.
There is one more aspect to this situation. No one expected to live to the ages we are
experiencing today. That is why many of our laws read a certain number of years. I remember when the neighborhood I lived in in Chicago had a 90 year clause. After a certain date, the old rules no longer applied. I lived there during the end of the time period, and it seemed that the moment the old law expired, big changes in the people took place. Our family moved out because we could not cope. We were afraid to live there any more.
Look what has happened to Reseda. Look what has happened to the mansions in Hollywood - they are all rooming houses now from what can be seen from the fwy.
I don't know if anything can be done at this point in time. And the rudeness and
uncaring answers we get from our elected officials and their staffs, maybe we are expecting too much of them.
But putting the costs on the people who live here and are actually the victims, that is a different story entirely. Tax after tax after tax so that these changes can take place is
really adding insult to injury. And that is why I am going to the City Hall on July 14th at noon. There is a law against thievery. tjh
OMG, it's so funny that you're writing about this. I just went to look at a foreclosure that used to be a 2+1 little house on a large lot in a modest neighborhood. Someone had done one of the WEIRDEST add-on jobs to this house. They added on 4 small bedrooms and a bathroom all going down a hallway. The backyard was almost gone and the whole addition was done illegally.
After seeing it I wondered if it had been a drug house. It was too clean to be a drug house. Then I realized that all those rooms must have been rented out and that's how the owner was able to pay the mortgage when that property must have sold for over $500,000.
I cannot help but blame the Bush Administration for our housing mess. The entire housing debacle started at the top with deregulation of financing. Same with the gas prices and our lack of fuel efficient cars. Bush and the Republican dominated Senate could do something about all of this but they refuse. They live in their gold plated bubbles and don't have a clue of what it's like for us normal people.
You can blame the local politicians Ron. I'm not going to totally disagree with you there. But the Valley housing issues are the same issues facing the entire country---low wages and sky high rents.
The City Council can't take the rap for this mess, IMO.
So sorry you feel as you do, but you are dead wrong. Of course, I know why. Because you feel that the Federal Government is already on to everything you feel and do no matter where or why! Amd for some reason, they want to stick it to you, don't you? That whole concept is a fairy tale.
The President? No, we do have that kind of government (yet) in this country and I pray (at almost 87) that we never do. We are in prime shape tho' to take one on, because nobody under the age of (I will guess) me knows the truth about Independence Day or the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution any more.
I suggest you go to Wikipedia and look up the foundations of our country and realize how very lucky we are that none of us have control over each other!!! How would you like an election like the one just took place in Zimbabwe? Or the non-election that took place in Cuba? NOT
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. IN 2008!!!!
The Constitution will in the first three articles design the job descriptions for President, the Legislature and the Supreme Court.
I think you will find that information extremely informative. The Declaration of Independence is a true statement by real patriots over 232 years ago.
Happy Independence Day! And I do say: GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!! tjh