Los Feliz Ledger

Landlord Attempts to Push Los Feliz Tenants Out with Harassment & Buy-Out Offers to Convert Rent Controlled Building
2015 Updates and Year in Review - A Look Back at 2015

COVE APARTMENTS

Residents at Los Feliz's Cove apartment complex, a 43-unit, rent controlled property on Commonwealth Avenue acquired by real estate investment firm Robhana Group and Ness Property Management in May, have continued to fight Ness's attempts to get them to leave.

According to Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES), a nonprofit Los Angeles tenants rights organization, despite notices posted on residents' doors in August by the management company indicating it would start a condo conversion of the complex within 90 days, no required paperwork has been filed with the city to carry out such conversion plans.

Cove Tenants

Ness, the management company has said the notices were simply a misunderstanding and were posted by a manager without approval from the company. But members of the Cove Tenants Assoc. said as of December the management company is still trying to convince residents to move. Some residents have reported dilapidated areas of the complex have not been repaired for months.

Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu wrote a letter to Ness in October, condemning tactics he said amounted to "tenant intimidation."

The councilmember ended his letter with a warning that his office would continue to closely monitor the situation.

The Cove issue came on the heels of two other high-profile tenant evictions in May, at 1655 Rodney Drive and Franklin Avenue's Villa Carlotta apartments. The owners of both buildings invoked the Ellis Act, a 1985 California law meant to allow owners of rent stabilized properties to evict tenants if they want to retire from the rental business.

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