Renters facing eviction on Hemet street full of foreclosed properties

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Michael Perrault
The Press-Enterprise

HEMET - A neighborhood with a history of financial woes has more trouble.

Apartment dwellers in many of the 16 four-plexes on Mobley Lane in Hemet say they're being evicted as some of the property owners are being foreclosed on.

Some have voluntarily agreed to move out within as little as 10 days, in exchange for cash assistance from a bank. Other tenants who have watched neighbors forced out say they're bracing for notices.

"They're putting us all out on the street," cries Dollie Ellinger, who says she signed an agreement accepting $2,500 to vacate her Mobley Lane apartment by Monday. Sixteen four-plexes are going be to shut down by the owner and many of the residents have just a few days to move out.

Residents Annel Lopez and Sally Ruiz recently received notices that their water was being shut off. Last Thursday, they held an impromptu meeting with fellow tenants -- many of whom are single mothers or older and on fixed incomes -- to discuss their options and legal rights.

"People want to fight this," said Ruiz, who has faithfully paid her rent for 18 months.

Tenants facing foreclosure have new federal protection, said Eulalio Castellanos, managing attorney for Inland Counties Legal Services' Housing Law Services Center in Riverside.

The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, effective May 20, is designed to ensure tenants have adequate time to find alternative housing. Generally, tenants must be given 90 days' notice, and new owners must honor leases.

State law requires new owners of properties that changed hands prior to May 20 to give 60 days' notice to tenants, Castellanos said.

But asset management firms, working on behalf of banks that have foreclosed on properties, often negotiate payments with tenants so they will move out earlier and the properties can be sold quickly.

TENANTS DISTRAUGHT

Dollie Ellinger, a single mother with three children, said her notice to vacate came with little warning. Like many residents, she had heard rumors that the landlord was having financial difficulty.

Some residents of the Mobley Lane apartments have simply abandoned their property and left.

Lourena Arrowood is a representative of American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., which represents a bank that now owns the four-plex Ellinger lives in. She said Ellinger and other tenants signed agreements accepting payment if they would thoroughly clean their apartments, turn over keys and vacate by the specified date.

Real estate agent Bob Simpson, with Brubaker Culton Real Estate Development, said such "cash for keys" negotiations are common.

"It saves on the cost of eviction and a lot of cleanup, and helps tenants offset the cost of moving," Simpson said.

Brubaker Culton is handling the sale of two bank-owned four-plexes at 526 and 575 Mobley Lane.

Some residents would rather not move. They say they simply have no choice but to accept the deals starting as little as $500; if not, they might receive nothing.

Latricia Davis, a single mother of four, signed a lease in March. In July, she found an eviction notice from the bank tacked to her door.

She said she feels her lease was signed under "false pretenses" with the landlord who was foreclosed on, but she reluctantly signed a move-out agreement. She doesn't know how she'll afford the move and other expenses.

"They're saying, 'We lost the building and you guys are going to suffer,' " Davis said. "All these families, the elderly, we're all people on fixed incomes."

Some residents who can't afford moving trucks have simply abandoned their couches and other belongings in the parking lot.

PAST TROUBLES

The Mobley Lane exodus is taking place on a street that has had its share of crime and financial woes over the years.

Allen Mobley and his wife, Carol, restored 64 units in the mid-1990s when the street was known as Timothy Lane. The street had had a reputation as a haven for drugs and gangs, but calls to police dropped sharply after the renovation.

Mobley sold the apartments in 2001 after filing for bankruptcy. At the time, the city of Hemet tried to buy the properties but the deal fell through, said Mark Trabing, Hemet's housing manager.

"We wanted to buy it or do something with it, but the owner wouldn't sell," Trabing said.

The two- and three-bedroom apartments now rent for about $799 to $875 a month, residents said.

Susan York, a regional vice president for Trilar Management Group, which has handled many four-plex leases on the block, said her company has nothing to do with the bank-owned properties.

Davis said Trilar has offered her an option to move into more expensive apartments nearby.

"It's rent we can't afford," Davis said. "So basically, they're offering us a boat but no paddle."

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