result of frivolous bankruptcy filings or other abusive legal
maneuvers recommended by some of the tenants' rights groups.
Of course there are some lousy landlords who abuse their position,
but there are also many bad tenants. I am sure that the city's
landlords can furnish the News-Press with 10 bad tenant horror
stories for every bad landlord claim made by tenants. Think of what
it costs to professionally clean, paint and re-carpet an apartment
upon a tenant vacating. Add the loss in rental revenue during the
time the unit is vacant. Is it in the landlord's best interest to
arbitrarily evict a tenant? Of course not.
Under the proposed ordinance, will a landlord be able to evict a
tenant who rents a clean apartment and turns it into a pig sty?
Naturally, other tenants won't want a slum tenant in an adjacent
apartment creating a breeding ground for insects that will infest
other tenants' apartments. Will the new ordinance make it more
difficult for a responsible landlord to evict slovenly tenants who
are too lazy to keep their apartment clean?
If an owner has one problem tenant, it can affect the entire
building, and an owner can lose all of his good tenants in a matter
of weeks. Managing residential real estate is already a challenge,
and California is known as one of the most pro-tenant states in the
country. Let's not make it more difficult by enacting an ordinance
that is not needed and turn Glendale into a slum similar to Los
Angeles or Santa Monica.
LARRY GLENN
Glendale
