Apartment battle takes a nasty turn; City deems Burlingame unit a public nuisance; tenant left homeless

The tenant, Donna Gibson, requested that city building inspectors take a look at her unit after her bathroom was gutted in August and not fixed in a timely manner.

“They determined that the unit was substandard, due to the lack of a functioning bathroom and openings to another unit that had been created as part of initial repairs,” Burlingame City Manager Lisa Goldman wrote in an email.

Today, the toilet and tub sit in Gibson’s living room several weeks after being ripped out of the bathroom.

The kitchen floor was also taken out and her refrigerator wrecked as part of the work that was done to the unit, she said.

She has returned to the 12-unit complex across from Mills High School to find her front door wide open late in the evening when she’s come to pick up her mail.

Legally, the landlords are supposed to pay her relocation assistance although Gibson claims she has still had to pay the $1,575 monthly rent for the one-bedroom she has lived at for nine years.

“The city’s position is as follows: The unit is currently substandard; repairs need to be completed as soon as possible; and the landlord owes relocation benefits to its tenants during the period of uninhabitability,” Goldman wrote in the email.

The initial dispute with the landlord was the likely result of a complaint Gibson made about a bad smell in her closet from mold, she said.

It has since spiraled into a nightmare that triggered the landlords to seek a restraining order against her Wednesday, she said.

A Burlingame police officer phoned Gibson and allegedly requested that she no longer text, email or phone her landlords.

Goldman confirmed that the landlord called the police.

“Our officer was dispatched at the request of the landlord, who wanted police response about the possibility of getting a restraining order. Our officer advised about the process of getting a restraining order, which would be the sole responsibility of the landlord. The landlord asked our officer to call Ms. Gibson to relay his request that she not contact him further, and that he (the landlord) would reach out to her with any money that she is owed. Our officer did suggest that she might want to seek legal counsel regarding this matter. There is no further investigation or action by the Burlingame Police Department,” Goldman wrote the Daily Journal in a second email.

Gibson wonders why the landlords haven’t evicted her and now just wants the relocation assistance she is entitled to so she can move out.

She doesn’t have the money now to move and recently lost her job as a nanny. If the landlords do pursue a restraining order against her, it could jeopardize her Trustline certification as a nanny in the future, Gibson said.

She also applied to live somewhere else but her current landlords allegedly gave her a bad reference, Gibson said.

She has sought the help of Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel and has even met with staff members of Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco.

Nagel told the Daily Journal Wednesday that the city has offered Gibson all the help it can.

Gibson also said she’s had a hard time finding legal assistance. The city cannot act as Gibson’s lawyer “in securing the various rights and penalties she may be entitled to,” Goldman wrote.

The Daily Journal contacted two of the building’s owners by telephone, one refused to comment but the other did.

“We don’t want to get into specifics. This is really about miscommunication between a tenant and landlord and unfortunately Donna’s communication is so poor,” Christopher Dunning said.

We would not indicate whether the bathroom would be fixed soon but said the family takes good care of the building at 2005 Murchison Drive. He also said the story was not newsworthy.

The city also deemed the adjoining apartment to Gibson’s a public nuisance and uninhabitable.

Gibson was under the impression the work on her unit would be complete in two weeks and that she would return home to a beautiful new bathroom.

She was wrong.

Gibson thought the roughly $180,000 she has paid in rent to the landlords over the past nine years kept her in good standing with them.

She was wrong.

In recent days, Gibson has heard that she may have become a bother to not just the landlords but also the individuals she has sought help from in the city, at legal assistance agencies and elsewhere.

Gibson feels the landlords are being vindictive because she complained about the needed repairs.

“After discussing her options with her and at her request, the city issued a Notice and Order to the landlord to effectuate repairs,” Goldman wrote in an email.

The Notice and Order from the city to the landlords could be the reason why they have not contacted her about relocation assistance, Gibson said.

“This is a vindictive attempt to ruin my life because I’ve caused trouble for them with the city,” Gibson said Wednesday.

A civil suit is next on her agenda, she said.

“The city has informed the landlords of their obligation to pay relocation benefits during the period in which the unit is uninhabitable and has informed them of the potential penalties they face if they fail to do so,” Goldman wrote. “The city does not take a position on the various factual disputes between Ms. Gibson and her landlords, except that both parties appear to agree that relocation payments of some kind were initially offered and refused. When repairs took longer than originally anticipated, Ms. Gibson demanded relocation payments.”

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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