South Lake Tahoe apartments found to be unsafe - tenants must vacate

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Six families in South Lake Tahoe don't know where they will be spending Christmas after receiving notice Wednesday that the apartment building they've been calling home was found to be unsafe, giving them until Monday, December 17 to find a place to live.

The City of South Lake Tahoe first responded to tenant's complaints about living conditions at 3546 Spruce Avenue back in October 2017. City staff found substandard conditions and have inspected the building a couple of times since that time. There have been maintenance issues and unworking appliances as well as missing smoke detectors according to staff, along with 18 police calls to the address in 2018 for everything from a reported bonfire to a domestic disturbance and child neglect case.

The City notified the owner of the building, Leonard Lee of the San Francisco Bay Area, that conditions in the building needed to be addressed. Lee purchased the building in 2016, with official filing of his Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) papers on September 23 that year.

The City of South Lake Tahoe sent a new notice to Mr. Lee this Fall, telling him the building would be reinspected on November 5, 2018 but he failed to show up. Lee told South Tahoe Now that he never received that notice. They then sent a new notice that they'd be inspecting the apartments on November 14. He was there with code enforcement, fire department and building officials but the tenants had not received notice so they could not enter units. According to reports, staff could tell there'd be issues on the inside by their inspection of the exterior of the apartment building. There was also evidence residents had been burning items outside, something not allowed in the city limits, along with trash and abandoned vehicles.

Finally, on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 officials were able to get inside units and found what they say are conditions far below standard. Their list included burn marks on the ceilings from faulty wiring and holes through the fire walls where it looked like Lee attempted to fix a water main issue.

"It was atrocious," South Lake Tahoe Communications Manager Chris Fiore told South Tahoe Now. “City staff has worked diligently for 2 years trying to get Mr. Lee to make these places safe to live in.”

The conditions led officials to notice the six of ten units that were being occupied to vacate the building by noon on Monday (the other four were not occupied). Until then, Lee is required to have someone on duty to do a fire watch every 15 minutes out of the City's concern for the residents' safety.

"We're not going to sit around and let someone, children and their families die or get seriously injured because of a landlord that isn't holding up their end of the bargain," said Fiore. "We care about the people who call South Lake Tahoe home and we expect the people who provide housing here to do the same and prove it by making these places safe and comfortable to live in."

By California law, Lee must pay five of the families two months of market rate rent plus $90 for utilities. The sixth family could not prove they've been paying rent and therefore aren't eligible for the funds. Reports say the family was living in the unit without heat and with broken windows.

When asked when he'll pay the tenants the required funds, Lee said, "I’m not going to discuss that with you."

Lee, whose address is a mailbox at a UPS store in Foster City, said it wasn't his choice to close the apartment and if it were up to him he'd start remodeling it right away, claiming the City isn't giving him the needed permits.

Lee did say the scope of work needed to fix the building can't take just two weeks to accomplish. He said he has a survey and architectural plans waiting to be approved by the City. It is unknown at this time the status of those plans and if the City received them.

Of the six units that will be boarded up there are seven children and ten adults currently living there.

Many in the community have jumped in to try and help those being displaced. Lydia Zuniga of the City's Building Services Department has been in touch with Bill Martinez of the Family Resource Center and Amanda Hammond of the school district's McKinney-Vento program, both who deal with some of the lower income families in South Lake Tahoe. Zuniga gave Martinez a list of all apartment houses in the City that exceed all building standards as well as motels that have been inspected through the Single Room Occupancy guidelines.

Tahoe Magic, a nonprofit that helps with needs of the community, is also involved. The South Tahoe Association of Realtors have all been asked if they available housing for renters.

Even if financial help comes in there is a lack of affordable housing in South Lake Tahoe, as everyone is aware of. The amount of rent the families at 3546 Spruce were paying is about half of what they'd have to pay at available units in the community. Those who may be able to help can contact Bill Martinez at Family Resource Center, 530.542.0740.

Residents at Bart's Tahoe Apartments at 1224 Ski Run Boulevard received notice on December 10 that their landlord, Vernice Zanco of Washington, was notified that she had "unlawful conditions that constitute a public nuisance and which pose a substantial danger to the health, safety, and general welfare of the occupants, the surrounding community, and the public" at the property. She has 90 days to fix all issues or the 36 families that live there will have to vacate the property.

The inspection report from November 5, 2018 at Bart's show:

1. Deteriorated or inadequate foundations
2. Defective or deteriorated flooring or floor supports
3. Flooring or floor supports of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety
4. Members of walls, partitions, or other vertical supports that split, lean, list, or buckle due to defective material or deterioration
5. Members of walls, partitions, or other vertical supports that are of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety.
6. Members of ceilings, roofs, ceiling and roof supports, or other horizontal members which sag, split, or buckle due to defective material or deterioration.
7. Members of ceilings, roofs, ceiling and roof supports, or other horizontal members that are of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety.
8. Deteriorated, crumbling, or loose plaster
9. Defective or lack of weather protection for exterior wall coverings, including lack of paint, or weathering due to lack of paint or other approved protective covering.
10. The Subject Property has not been inspected, tested, or maintained for the purpose of maintaining and testing the fire alarm and fire detection systems
11. The smoke alarms throughout the Subject Property are missing, inoperable or out of fire code compliance.
12. The carbon monoxide alarms throughout the Subject Property are missing; Inoperable or out of fire code compliance.
13. Security devises, exit lighting, fire doors and egress locks throughout the Subject Property have not been properly installed or maintained. Repair or replace all fire, exit and egress devices-Fire door assemblies, lighting, path of travel indicators, fire rated construction deficiencies.
14. The drying machines in the laundry room were installed incorrectly and contain defects in their venting system that creates a substantial fire hazard from lint build up and health and safety hazard for the occupants of Subject Property.
15. The walls in the laundry room are soiled, peeling, and severely stained with heavy lint. The condition of the walls contributes to the building’s unsightly appearance and constitutes as a public nuisance as well as creating additional fire hazards.
16. The balconies, walkways, and decks of the units of the Subject Property are improperly used to store items such as bikes, cleaning supplies, trash, furniture, and other miscellaneous items.

There are several other issues as well, all leading to a required reinspection of the building on December 20, 2018 and all corrective action to be completed by March 10, 2019.