Slumlords slammed with fines

The four were hit with a civil lawsuit by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office Feb. 28 alleging they operated substandard and unsafe housing. The suit claims the four plaintiffs knowingly refused to clean up vermin, provide clean water and fix faulty fire safety fixtures.

One broken fixture was the automatic door-closing mechanism on fire doors at a Daly City apartment building at 586 Clarinada Avenue. That violation prevented Glenda DeLeon and her two children, 9-year-old Daryl and 3-year-old Darwin, from escaping a fire on March 18, 2002. The trio were killed by smoke in the stairwell and the fire marshall later stated the fire doors were directly responsible.

The District Attorney's Office considered filing criminal charges in the DeLeon death but could not build a case beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the deaths led to close inspections of all properties owned by the Hussains and Taj-Eldins. The suit cited approximately 800 violations of housing and fire safety laws over the last four years at seven apartment buildings in San Mateo County. About 500 of those violations were found Feb. 24 during comprehensive inspections.

Judge Mark Forcum closed the case March 17 with a list of requirements for the four plaintiffs. They must immediately begin repairing the violations according to a pre-determined scheduled and the buildings cannot be sold unless all repairs are completed. They were also mandated to establish a bank trust account to pay for the repairs. The landlords must initially place $150,000 of their own money in the account and then fund it with rental property profits.

Civil penalties for the past violations were levied in the amount of $350,000 and the defendants are prohibited from ever violating housing and fire safety laws in the future.

If the defendants do not comply with any of the rules stipulated they could be found in contempt and subject to greater fines or even prison time.

The landlords own 17 properties in both San Mateo and San Francisco counties. The seven structures named by the suit include 100 separate housing units in Redwood City, Daly City, San Bruno and South San Francisco. They rented for about $1,000 to $1,500 a month despite the dilapidated conditions that code enforcement officers say lacked proper water, sewage or stable flooring.

Prosecutor John E. Wilson, head of the Consumer and Environmental Unit, said the District Attorney's Office brought the suit in hopes of preventing such conditions for future tenants in all county homes.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.<