They won't be kicked out of their homes, but they didn't get all they wanted, either.
To protest what they call illegally high rents, 17 senior mobile home residents in Santee's Meadowbrook Mobile Estates have been deducting about $60 from monthly rent checks, most of them since August.
The “adjusters,” as they call themselves, had hoped to speed up legal action in a dispute with their landlord, Equity LifeStyle Properties, over how much the company should be able to charge.
State law says tenants may be evicted for failing to pay rent. But the adjusters won't face eviction under an agreement reached yesterday with Equity LifeStyle, said Jeremy Singer, a San Diego attorney representing them.
Instead, the trial date in a lawsuit filed by the Homeowners Association of Meadowbrook Estates – which includes the adjusters – was delayed a month so that the two sides could discuss a settlement.
The talks led Equity LifeStyle to agree to hold off on the evictions, but the parties failed to reach a settlement. The trial is set for March.
Jim Montague, 75, the first to adjust his rent, said he just wants the case resolved and the money that is owed to residents. He said he doesn't regret adjusting his rent because he believes the group got the landlord's attention.
“We made our point,” he said. “I think they understand they've made a bunch of old folks unhappy.”
The adjusters continue to pay less in rent. The amount they deduct goes to a special account at their attorney's office so both sides know where it is when the suit is resolved.
The goal of getting to court sooner than the previously scheduled February trial date became “worthless” anyway, Montague said, because Equity LifeStyle didn't issue an eviction notice until last month.
The company agreed yesterday to hold off on the evictions until the lawsuit is resolved, Singer said.
A Chicago attorney representing Equity LifeStyle said this week that he was not familiar with the details of the agreement. Calls to the company's headquarters seeking comment were not returned.
The homeowners association's grievance stems from the Chicago-based company's move in 2004 to raise rents about 10 percent and charge a one-time fee of more than $900.
The association sued the company, at that time called Manufactured Home Communities, over the increase and fee. They cited the city's rent-control ordinance, which caps rents on mobile homes, among other laws.
Meanwhile, a group representing owners of mobile home parks has dropped its appeal against Santee in a case challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. That drops to five the number of rent-control-related lawsuits in which the city is involved.
Michele Clock: (619) 593-4964; michele.clock@uniontrib.com
