Photo: Jacqueline García/Real America News / Impremedia
On Wednesday, a group of tenants in South Central Los Angeles publicly denounced the verbal and physical harassment they have suffered from their landlord for several years. The tenants said in a press conference that these include deportation and death threats.
The house located in 609 E. Adams Blvd in Los Angeles has two stories and is divided into three units—one of which was built illegally—plus a small studio in the back.
Adilene Marín lives in one of the units with her parents, two brothers, a sister-in-law and her two nieces and they paid $1,100 rent.
Marin said they have lived there for 000 years and everything was fine until the alleged new owner came to give them a false notification letter to evict them from their property.
He added that the owner, identified as Juan Paulo González, constantly comes to the house to knock on the door, to say rude things and sometimes even has sent gang members to threaten them.
The tenant assured that they have called the police several times to report the harassment they receive from the owner.
“My parents are traumatized because they yell things at them and they worry. So much so that my dad had facial paralysis, “said Marin.
Carmen Aragón is another tenant who has lived more than 25 years in the house . She said that when the previous owner, identified as Maria Saucedo and González’s aunt, was in charge, everything was fine. Aragón’s husband acted as the manager of the house, collected the rent, cleaned the patio and took care of the maintenance of the house.
“ Then the new owner arrived and told my husband that he has to leave or he will throw him out to the police,” said Aragón.
Since then the problems have not stopped. She said that on one occasion they had their electricity cut off for several days because even though the tenants paid their rent—which included the house bills—the landlord had not paid it and when they called the company he told them they owed $5,000.
Justa Miranda, from 60 years, said he has lived in the studio at the back of the house for more than 25 years. She indicated that her husband died in 2021 and left behind a truck that she does not know how to drive.
Said that Gonzalez constantly harassed her asking her to remove her from the property. Later she was told that they were going to increase her rent by $ 200 if she decided to stay on the property. She currently pays $1152.44 of rent.
“He always says, ‘I don’t want any of you here, I want everyone to leave’”, said Miranda.
Tenants vs. Landlords
In response to the accusations, González said that he does not know the tenants because when his aunt sold him the house they were already living there. He asserted that it was the tenants who had made illegal additions and alterations to the house.
He even said that these illegal additions are for them to rent the house to more people.
He asserted that his aunt used to live in one of the units and the tenants kicked her out to the point that she had to live in the patio of the house. She is currently living with a relative.
“No one has threatened anyone, nor has anyone thrown them out to immigration,” said González, assuring that everyone the tenants have banded together to turn against him. “They have beaten me, they have spit on me and they have affected me mentally and psychologically”.
González said that the best solution is that all the tenants of the property 609 E. Adams to leave so that he can make the necessary arrangements that they have changed over the years.
“There are many arrangements outside the codes that I don’t even know about, I need to fix all of that,” he said, asserting that he has proof of everything he says and is not afraid that the tenants want to accuse him of the authorities.
Seek legal representation
The tenants asked the Los Angeles City Council to reinforce the measures of the anti-harassment ordinance for tenants approved in the 2021.
They said that despite the fact that the law was approved they have not been able to advance the accusations against what s owners, like Gonzalez, because they cannot afford the fees of a lawyer to fight their case.
The approved ordinance does not has the funds to enforce the law and cover tenants’ attorney fees that prevail in court. As a result, harassment of tenants in Los Angeles continues unchecked and landlords continue to get away with abuse, said ACCE-Los Angeles tenant activists who supported the tenant group in question.
Activists of the pro-tenant organization ACCE-Los Ángeles demanded that the city council modify and strengthen the law so that it can effectively protect tenants from abuse.