AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara Tenant’s Union (SBTU)
Listen to Brandon’s story about his experience renting from Delmonte Management. Brandon is on an individual rent strike until management makes the unit habitable again, and he believes he is entitled to back pay for all the time the rental unit was uninhabitable plus expenses and damages caused by management’s negligence. Brandon deserves justice!
To support Brandon please call (805) 687-2100 and ask RESPECTFULLY that Delmonte management negotiate with him in good faith for back-pay for all the months the bathroom was unusable, the gas leak made the heater unusable, time exposed to black mold, and expenses and damages caused by management’s negligence. sbtu.org/join
The SBTU is an all-volunteer, tenant-led association dedicated to just housing. We aid tenants with issues like unjust evictions, rent increases, or negligent property management. We can provide legal context and community solidarity. We’re united around the belief that housing is a human right, and that tenants are better off when they stand together instead of alone. Learn more at sbtu.org
Brandon good for you to take it to higher authority, this is so unfortunate and unfair, I can absolutely guarantee they are simply trying to get you to leave to rent the apartment for $5,000 a month. All these a**hole landlords and property management companies are going to rot in hell for their behavior in being slumlords with no care in the world for unsafe living situations for their tenants, I pray that this issue gets solved for you fast and you must file a lawsuit for this as well, I’d recommend Lauren John Udden law office, he’s amazing fast and has helped us in the past with a similar situation, you have more then enough evidence and you need to be compensated for this.
Cadikid has it right. This is part of the reason there are homeless here. College degree, $25 p/h wages in town. Rent for a studio or 1 bedroom = $2700-$3500 a month. Move in costs around $4,000 to $6000….for an apartment.
Now you try to rationalize with this. Math doesn’t lie. Inflation and out of control rent prices and wages that are similar to what we all made in 1996
This looks like the apartments on Cliff Drive (1040). Who are the owners behind this unlawful behavior? This is unacceptable. And with your sound collection of evidence it looks like the landlord’s selfish choice is going to cost them far more now. This is the way to powerfully handle landlords like this. Gone are the days where tenants are uneducated, powerless and bullied. What amazes me as I learned more about your story is the fact the SB Fire Department came out twice and did a report on conditions and health impacts and the landlord had no respect or accountability to a government agency. I also am aware that there are many tenants impacted with joint walls to your unit. There is asbestos and verified mold data from a testing lab. No remediation was done. And now they want to send in a handyman to do work yet no city permits have been applied for and the asbestos has not been reported in accordance with the health and safety code. Mold spores are now in the duct work proliferating. This is a clear class action lawsuit and I would name the property manager company, individual managers, owners, Llc, maintenance person and anyone else that has been complicit and aiding and abetting to orchestrate this personal injury. You should contact the city attorney. Charges need to be filed. No one that disrespects our fire department agencies by ignoring their reports should be dining business in this city.
Anyone else old enough to remember when Jim Delmonte was the Pini, or a Pini among Pinis, of local landlords? Thank you SB Tenants Union!
I have some sympathy for landlords. A few generations of my family bought a unit as an investment, decades ago. We could afford the mortgage payments. But we MADE MONEY WHILE HAVING BELOW-MARKET RENTS. Even into the 2010’s.
That is why even as a landlord, I don’t trust landlords.
Our tenants were our biggest concern, not making money. Well-kept up, profit-making, nice place, with lovely long-term tenants. 20-30 year tenants. We were involved, even with a management company, we knew them, we were in control. Not like a frigging corporation as a landlord.
It was a healthy two-way relationship.
I feel as if a property owner would have the balls to manage their own property things would be better, I guess I understand that they live busy lives and can’t handle the responsibility but they can definitely handle the money coming in, then I guess they need the management, just take care of the property for god sake
Cad Kid, we did self-manage for most of ownership. It got to be too much. As I said, we were always in control, reviewed every maintenance bill & complaint and refused the management company to charge tenants for some things they wanted to. And made money.
This certainly seems disgusting! But instead of being geared to just helping Brandon, this seems an opportunity to hate on all landlords and make a great plug for the tenants union. But in order to resolve this, Brandon does not need to be helpless, and doesn’t need to make videos or enlist the tenants union. If what he says about all this is true, all he has to do is call the city, and he could also go to court. Tenants have a LOT of rights and he has many avenues if this was indeed due to a sewage overflow. He could have had an inspector from several city agencies out and already had this mandated to be fixed. And the landlord fined. Not sure why he didn’t. There was a sewage overflow in my complex due to tenants putting stuff down the plumbing they shouldn’t and tenants were immediately evacuated to alternate housing paid by the landlord and the only way to treat sewage overflow like that is to completely tear out all the drywall and all affected by mold. They also do major heat treatments and drying. The mold growing in the margin of his tub, however, is likely not from the sewage spill. That is NOT how it presents from a sewage overflow. I’m uncomforable with the intimation by some that ALL landlords are bad and ALL tenants are perfect. NOT. Bad apples in both carts. My landlord is great. Yes, housing is a human right, but so is food and clothing, but no one constantly villifies grocers. Yes prices are high in SB for everything including food, and utilities, insurance, maintenance, building supplies, repairs, property taxes, mortgages, etc. etc. Not defending the slum lords of course, but some landlords make little and sometimes no profit. No landlord could be expected to take on the expense and liability of offering rental property in order to lose money. Maybe we should also be looking at the overall problem of why prices are so high for everything for landlords and tenants. Housing may be a human right, but we don’t have a human right to someone else’s property, we have a contractual agreement only. Attacking the “good” landlords along with the bad is only going to drive the good landlords out of business and then we will end up with more big corporate slumlords like this.
I was checking out Craigslist earlier. Studios for $1,300/month and in the $1,500 range. Many studios under $2000, and some one bedrooms as well. My one bedroom is $1,775. Not sure where you get your stats? I don’t think landlords have any control over wages, any more than they do over soaring maintenance, repair, utility, insurance, tax, etc. costs. I think the “good non greedy” ones are just trying to turn a small profit. Our living expenses and rents are high but so are the landlord’s expenses high.
“The balls to manage their own property?” I think you got that right. It takes some HUGE balls these days to manage property with all the hate being orchestrated toward landlords. Not a job I would like. Sounds terrifying in fact, that for landlords your entire savings and income could be wiped out with just one catastrophic sewage overflow, plumbing or electrical problem, etc. The liability is so big landlording sounds like Russian roulette.
Stuff like this has been going on since at least the 60’s.
Santa Barbara is NOT a place for 1st time home buyers.
Unless you won the lottery or are a Trustafarian, AKA trust fund baby,or maybe a DR,PHD or… you have to become a”Local”which takes a few years and you can find your dream spot for less than market.
So unless you become a “true local” you will always be wankin’ about the cost.
Just like Hawaii, or Bali, or….
For you Trustafarians I could pick your pocket as well and tell you how to become more of a “Santa Barbarian”.
For a town so heavy on Education the first thing they must NOT be teaching is the law of supply and demand.
(and it should be)
Carry on.
Well put.
But this situation is why the Tenants Union exists.
I do not doubt the horror of such experiences.
However, there are other sides to this story that many good landlords must tolerate. That’s no excuse for exploitative rents, but unless Brandon knows everyone in the city, I’m rather put off by anyone who begs for money.
On the internet, nobody knows you are a bot.
In looking at the SB Tenants Union website, ironically, under ‘Resources’, the LAST link listed is the Rental Housing Mediation Program. (See below for the link for RHMP. ) People are patting the SBTU on the back for being such a needed, helpful resource, but they are NOT referring people to the very source, created by the city, to help tenants. Did Brandon even call Rental Housing Mediation Program? Of course, neither he nor the SBTU disclose this fact, IF he did. If he had made a simple phone call, he, and others like him, would not be living with the current situation. Instead of bashing and degrading landlords, how about asking the SBTU why they aren’t directing people, needing assistance, to the proper resources.
Bashing property providers leads many, smaller providers to sell and get out of being a rental housing provider. No one needs the hate directed at them, deserving or not.
Rental Housing Mediation Program
(805) 564-5420
https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/services/home/rhm/default.asp
They fight landlords whether the landlord is right or wrong… which I find to be wrong. They should vigorously advocate and fight for situations when that is the right thing to do… not just because fighting any/all landlords no matter the situation is what they do.
Come on Jasper … we must tar and feather all landlords. They are the enemy… and evil. How dare you bring reason and perspective!!!!