Cracking down on illegal rentals

City slaps landlord with record fine for unsafe conditions

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A Long Beach landlord agreed to pay what city officials are calling a record fine earlier this month for renting illegal apartments that created unsafe conditions for tenants, generated numerous complaints by residents and led inspectors to uncover an incident of animal abuse at the home.

Ian Franklin, the owner of a two-family home at 120 E. Hudson St., has racked up numerous violations since last year, according to Building Commissioner Scott Kemins.

Violations were initially issued in May 2013, Kemins said, when building inspectors discovered that there were at least four apartments — two of them in the basement — in what was supposed to be a legal two-family home. There were numerous additional summonses for safety, building and zoning code violations. Kemins said that four families had been living in the home.

“In December 2013, despite the violations having been corrected and the tenants having left, it was discovered that the landlord had simply attempted to ruse the Building Department into believing that he was in compliance, so he could allow the tenants to move back in once the case was closed,” Kemins said. “When the property was re-inspected, as a result of a complaint, all of the previous violations were present again, including the tenants who had supposedly moved out.”

Kemins said that after another inspection in January, an animal abuse charge was filed with the Police Department when a neglected and emaciated pit bull puppy was discovered in one of the allegedly vacant rooms in the home.

All of the violations levied against Franklin would have resulted in fines totaling $26,000, Kemins said. However, as a result of a plea agreement arranged between the city and Franklin’s attorney on Aug. 15, Franklin agreed to plead guilty and paid a $10,000 fine, the largest ever collected by the city for illegal housing violations, according to Kemins.

Neither Franklin nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

Kemins said that the home had been on the Building Department’s radar for some time, and that the resolution of the case comes at a time when the city is adopting a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal apartments, especially those that create unsafe conditions.

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