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The terror a tenant faces under the malicious hands under mischievous owners

by Carlos Gonzalez
I am a long time retired engineer of 40 years, and now retired. I have been an activist for 51 years and retired and sold my Oakland home to live in Sacramento. I give a single testimony of a young man going through serious trails and tribulations under First Class Lodi llc, The Law Offices of Bornstein & Bornstein, the former The Apartment Group Inc, and Bay Apartment Advisors. It is time for tenants to have courage and demand a reciprocal relationship of respect, and dignity.
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First Class Lodi llc, successfully purchased a multifamily 66 unit apartment building called, Lake Park Apartment, located at 1565 Madison street, Oakland, CA 94612. During the process of escrow, which commenced in April, and was finalized on June, 10th of 2014. Martin J Higgins was a prevalent ubiquitous fixture, who denied having vested interest ties to First Class Lodi llc, as well as, The Apartment Group Inc which was a real estate brokerage firm that also acted as a property management group. In addition he would purport to diminish a strong intertwined interest with property ownership of multiple Oakland rental buildings. Ironically his overwhelming presence would separate him from the entities he conducts business under. There was public suspicion surrounding the role of Martin J Higgins, whose alias name is Marty Higgins. The apprehension in interacting with the public would create a growing chasm.

Within the timeline of the escrow at Lake Park apartments Charles Brooks III and Charles Brooks II had a close relationship with the owners including knowledge of their process of pulling permits, to renovation coordination, to the overall structure of the LLC's finances and orientation of assets. This type of knowledge for some investors would be viewed as a threat to their overall real estate endeavors networked around the building. This would initiate a long unilateral battle against Charles Brooks II and Charles Brooks III who are long term residents at Lake Park apartments, and played a large role in maintaining the Lake Park apartments.

The harassment of tenants in apartment 117 would soon accelerate in September of 2014, which houses three residents. This would occur after thirty three of the sixty six units in August of 2014 petitioned to the Oakland Rental Adjustment Program, to dispute certain pass throughs under a justified rent increase exceeding the Urban CPI, known as capital improvements. Charles Brooks III would receive the most attacks by the owner investors, after joining the building's then newly formed tenants union, becoming a proactive member and creating published information of the incidents and circumstances that were surrounding conditions of the building after the point of sale.

The harassment would become so severe from management and the owner investors, that Charles Brooks III would initiate an RPA, ( The Rental Protection Agency ) The United States largest rental authority that provides Landlord tenant mediation; along with the ability to generate a negative public report as a penalty to landlords that are completely unwilling to at the least respond to a tenants aggrievement. After 3 months of failed attempts for a response or a mediation to occur from interjection by the RPA between Charles w Brooks III and First Class Lodi llc, resulted in a rare generation of a negative public report. To further provide benefit of the doubt to the property owners, Charles Brooks III extended the time frame to give the maximum allotted time to the Landlords. In addition he had extensive communication with 3 council member in the late fall of 2014 into the early winter of 2015. That further included the former chair of the city council Pat Kernighan who altruistically volunteered to have an hour and a half conversation listening to circumstances and giving recommendations based on her years of experience.

Charles Brooks III is a college graduate, who majored in Health fitness sciences, and business. He is strongly involved in his community and is an active member of multiple community organizations. In addition he has a registered business in Oakland and loves to educate people and learn from others in his community. He stands on principals that he does not compromise on, and in turn this may occasionally lead to sacrificial consequences in the short term, but the perpetual endurance overcomes obstacles, and leads to success.

Martin J Higgins has an increasingly nefarious reputation proliferating in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his name has become unhinged and decloaked from the LLC's, where he has fiscal interest. He has been publically identified for incidents of endangering the lives of the tenants which hold contractual agreements under his property investments. Furthermore his conduct is evading and draining municipal resources by not pulling the required permits for construction or demolition. These practices are not minor and increasingly erode the confidence of the public and adds to the volatility that may negatively effect a municipal bodies ability to generate stable revenue. This brings in to question, the possible need for a full audit of his LLC's and possibly a criminal probe to get to the underlying reasons for the normative unethical practices.

There were twenty nine long term units within Lake Park apartments, who attended three housing hearings at the offices of the Oakland Rental Adjustment Program, which is housed under the Department of Housing Community and Development. The Oakland Rental Adjustment Program was implemented and granted powers through an ordinance passed by the city council under Oakland Municipal Code chapter 8.22.00 in 1983. The tenants were successful in disputing half of the capital improvement pass throughs due to many of the pass throughs being ineligible in meeting the criteria of adding to the longevity of the building or primarily benefiting the tenants. Thirdly the agents for the owners were unable to show proof of finalization of permits that are required when attempting to pass through a renovation. In addition property owners must provide invoices, receipts, and proof of services and renovations in an organized fashion to meet the prerequisites, in order to pass on a capital improvement to tenants.

Lake Park Apartment's is a 66 unit building that was officially completed in 1965, and has many plumbing and electric issues that would require extensive work. Instead of resolving the major infrastructure issues requiring major repair, the owner investors instead prioritized gold platting as the MOI. Gold platting is when excessive value ia added to a building by using the most expensive fixtures and materials towards the interior, and visible exterior areas of a given building to add curbside appeal. Although they may sound standard and innocent new pipes added to an old infrastructure, along with wiring on a unit by unit scale without abatement can be cataclysmic to an older building's wellbeing. The plumbing issues and electric issues have become increasingly degraded as new pipes and electrical wires have been added through vacant unit renovations, which place more burden onto a 51 year old electric and water infrastructure. This along with the lack of consistent management and maintenance has fostered an environment with unfettered, narcotic solicitation, prostitution, and unlawful crime that has become normal aberration at Lake park apartments.

Currently Charles w Brooks III has been subjected to severe harassment and retaliation, which even includes distortion of the California state law Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act 1954.50 et, seq to erroneously exempt an apartment under the rent adjustment program in a 66 unit building that received a certificate of occupancy in 1965. The tenants of apartment 117 have been supplanted by fictitious paper tenants, who have a significantly materially different tenants agreement. The law offices of Bornstein & Bornstein, which have a long history of misconstruing local rental housing laws, which in turn causes CA to become an increasingly less desirable place to conduct business due to erosive operating cost along with commercial and residential housing prices. This is also responsible for a growing number of tech workers of child bearing age seeking tech hubs in other parts of the nation in order to have a reasonable quality of life. The Bay Apartment advisors the current property manage group for many of the buildings owned by First Class Lodi llc, along with the legal council of The law Offices of Bornstein & Bornstein have created a fictitious tenancy and effectively created a straw man argument.

The agents of the owner on 1/21/2016 alleged there were changes in tenancy and created a fictitious person named Charles Brooks, along with unknown tenants claiming unlawful possession of an occupied unit; this argument is being used as a justification to exempt a unit off of the Oakland Rent Adjustment Program In addition the agents of the owners held on to his checks for 8 weeks, and sent a letter dated 2/11/2016 indicating the cashing of checks did not waive the alleged Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act argument. In addition the 60 day notice to increase rent called for a rent increase from 847.27 to 2065.00 without any significant changes to a unit that has not been renovated in 30 years. The agent owners in return sent photo copies of January and February checks to two addresses. the first address was Charles Brooks III's residential address, but the second was his personal P.O Box address shared by 4 other business partners. This would become pragmatic as each individual needs to know in advance of such personal identifiable information being sent to the designated address, as specific mail would not be removed.

The gross negligence of the agents for the owners caused Identity theft. Charles brooks III along with his attorney communicated to management what occurred as well as the damages, management agreed to have a sit down, but never followed through with arrangements. Instead they quickly sent a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit, knowing the circumstances were dire, and the restructuring and investigation were currently in full motion. On 2/23/2016 a notice with the fictitious name appeared, even after long communication that such a person does not exist. The monetary damages reached 9,000.00 dollars, and Charles w Brooks III has been forced to file a small claims suit against First Class Lodi llc, and sign under duress an unlawful detainer that excludes the recognition of existing tenants within the unit. He has been generous in only asking for the underlying 4,734.00 as a gesture of good faith.

Even more disturbing is the plethora of cease and desist orders along with police incident reports he has submitted and generated, as he is in fear for his life. Charles w Brooks III is in a mindset of trepidation that he may receive bodily harm or even be murdered based on the accelerating tactics of harassment by the property owners. Many of his neighbors and family are in fear of his safety, and there own safety. The outlets of communication by management and the owners have grown increasingly restrictive, which adds to the ongoing intimidation such as the removal of his designated parking space was taken without any written notification or oral communication.

Charles w Brooks III has made it clear to the public and management that he will not be intimidated, bullied, nor will he give up on protecting the tenants which he states are the recipients of inequity delivered by management and property owners. He is compromising his life, but feels after 19 months of harassment there must be a voice for a growing number of tenants within the San Francisco Bay Area who are coercively having their rights infringed upon. The true root of the problem boils down to a lack of respect and a serious volatility in housing practices that negative ripple effects in society, and the funneling of capital away from the mainstream economy, and the pillars of society.

There is a possibility based on long compilations of documentation of unlawful surveillance imposed by First Class Lodi llc, Bay Apartment Advisors, and TP partners, could lead to an unprecedented multi building class action law suit. This includes Melissa Hennings who has battled First Class Lodi llc for over a 1 1/2 years after being injured, subjected to an uninhabitable construction site, and finally being forced to move after her quad plex she resided in for 10 years was red tagged. The time is coming to combat the notorious companies that are raising the land values while creating unsafe and hazardous market rate housing in return. This is at a time where the middle class is no longer a majority, and a growing number of people are in discontent with the establishment, and an American dream that is becoming far less obtainable as the US becomes a two tiered nation.

The battle has just begun and it is possible that Charles Brooks III could be harmed or loose his life, due to the knowledge he has of the entities and the connections he has in both the community and business world. This is just one anomaly that is becoming a normal practice in the San Francisco Bay area's growing housing crisis, which has reached the points of endangering and harming the lives of tenants. There are consequences and repercussions for actions that break down the fabrics of society, and the growing unethical practices are leading to an erosion of society. The unfettered practices that continue with impunity do not evade the laws of action and reaction. All chickens must come home to roost, and the seeds you sow into the ground will be the fruit you will inevitably reap.


cited source material
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https://www.corporationwiki.com/California/San-Francisco/first-class-lodi-llc/47145980.aspx
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/24/18766010.php
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/02/17/18783024.php
http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/news-marijuana-cannabis-legalization-medical-marijuana-cannabis-industry-harvest-harvest-on-geary-marty-higgins/Content?oid=4313552
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/10/12/18762781.php
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/how-oakland-landlords-prevail-in-rent-disputes/Content?oid=4345386
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/02/20/18768831.php?show_comments=1
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/05/08/can-one-oakland-law-slow-gentrification
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/05/08/can-one-oakland-law-slow-gentrification
http://sanfrancisco.marijuanainvestorsummit.com/2016/speaker/marty-higgins-2/
http://www.baypropertygroup.com/our-team/daniel-bornstein
http://bornsteinlawyers.com/
http://sfappeal.com/2014/07/infamous-sf-eviction-lawyers-use-dmca-claim-to-silence-protest-video/
http://sfappeal.com/2014/02/lawyer-from-eviction-boot-camp-firm-fined-and-reprimanded-during-contentious-effort-to-evict-richmond-district-tenants/
https://sites.google.com/site/oaklandtenantsunited/bay-apartment-advisors/investors-owners-and-managers/the-apartment-group-inc
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