Dear Editor,
My wife and I live in Santa Monica. My wife has been in this apartment for over 20 years, I have been here for six years. On December 23, 2013 we were served with an Ellis eviction giving us 120 days to leave.
I contacted the attorney, Rosario Perry, representing the new landlords informing him that I am disabled and require the one year extension.
Mr. Perry responded by saying I am not a “tenant.” The proof of this is a “rent statement” provided by the previous landlord. There are also some other dubious documents — or lack of — saying I am not a tenant.
My wife and I have contacted legal aid and every other renters rights organizations we could find, we also had a local attorney send Mr. Perry many documents proving that in actual fact I am a tenant.
Starting around October 2013 the new landlords started making offers to leave and paying $35,000 to do so, of course we considered doing this and we sent Mr. Perry a counter offer requesting a little more money however, the thing we really wanted was the payment to be put in an escarole account because we (and everyone else) have no idea who the new owners are and were afraid of not getting paid.
I have seen times when I was a contractor more then a few times people with considerable financial resources refuse to pay someone knowing full well there was nothing they could do about it. We wanted to make sure we would not be stuck with no place to live waiting for the owners to pay us.
On Feb. 6, 2014 Mr. Perry sent a letter to us stating that “he is always one to negotiate.” This is disingenuous to say the least, he never responded to our first offer, indeed he states he doesn’t know what we’re talking about.
It seems my wife and I have run out of options, needless to say we are running out of time and really need some help. however all we want is to be treated fairly. What I don’t understand is how Mr. Perry can say “I’m not a tenant” when we supplied him with ample proof I am. One of the things we sent was a letter from the previous owner stating he knew I was here and gave permission for me to live here.
Again, it’s bad enough to loose ones home because speculators have the money to make it so but to have Mr. Perry try and jump through some loop holes is outrageous.
I am sending you this letter in the hope that someone wants to do the right thing.
Joseph Bilek
Santa Monica
