Evicted tenants tell of horrors in rentals

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/23/MN127878.DTL

Saturday, February 23, 2002

Evicted tenants tell of horrors in rentals

Mold, lack of heat, dyed 'new' carpets

Pamela J. Podger, Chronicle Staff Writer

The huge white mushroom sprouted out of the living room carpet in Kathy

Wagner's Santa home in December -- a horrible echo of the tiny fungi

that had engulfed the bathroom floor a year or so earlier.

Wagner has lived for nine years in a Trombetta Street home owned by Japanese

mogul Gensiro Kawamoto. She and her family are among hundreds of tenants in

Northern California whose lives went into a tailspin on Feb. 15, when

notices posted on their doors gave them 30 days to vacate the premises.

Other Kawamoto tenants said they've gone for four months without heat or

that they've been charged for " new " carpets that were dyed from pink to

brown instead of being replaced.

Stories like these may buy the tenants some time, at least. Dani Jo Handell,

a Sonoma County deputy district attorney in the consumer law division, has

opened an investigation into Kawamoto's business practices.

If the anecdotal reports prove to be legitimate grievances about the

conditions of the 149 homes in southwest Santa , she could file a

complaint as early as next week stating that Kawamoto chose to evict tenants

instead of making the needed repairs.

" We're looking at whether there have been any retaliatory evictions here, "

Handell said. " Under the law, the tenants have a right to have safe and

livable conditions in their homes. "

Wagner said when a formal complaint to the property managers about the

bathroom fungi went unheeded, her husband ended up replacing the linoleum.

" The guy who finally came out said to my husband, 'You're doing a great job'

and didn't do anything. People don't complain because they are afraid of a

reprisal, " Wagner said. " Most people just fix things themselves. "

The more recent problem resolved itself shortly after she noticed it: her

cat ate the living-room mushroom and promptly vomited on the carpet. So far,

the problem hasn't recurred.

The upheaval here is mirrored in the Sacramento bedroom communities of

Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Antelope and Rocklin, where families living in

about 430 Kawamoto homes also got eviction notices.

But Sacramento County Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Albert Locher

stopped short of saying he would join any complaint with Sonoma County.

" We're monitoring and evaluating the situation, " he said.

Broker Ross Liscum, whose firm will take over the management of the Santa

properties after March 16, declined to address the tenants' complaints

about the condition and delayed maintenance of the houses.

He did say, " If someone is living in the home, they would be the most likely

buyer if they have an interest. " Prudential California Realty was chosen

yesterday to handle the sale of the Santa homes, which are expected to

sell for roughly $250,000 to $350,000.

Calls to Kawamoto's lawyer in Honolulu were not returned. Nor were calls to

the property management companies in Santa and Sacramento.

" I wish we had more time, " Santa Mayor Mike i said yesterday.

" You can sense how angry and nervous and frustrated (the tenants) are. "

That includes Anastasia McCrary, 26, who has rented a Trombetta Street home

since September. For the past four months, there has been no heat in the

upstairs bedroom -- so her 5-year-old daughter, Jacinda, has been sleeping

with McCrary and her husband, Heintz.

E-mail Pamela J. Podger at ppodger@...