Apartment Residents Sue Wells Fargo Over Living Conditions After Transfer of Foreclosed Property
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Bibliographic Info:
Author: Rick Radin
Source: Contra Costa Times, “Bay Point apartment tenants sue Wells Fargo”
Date: April 22, 2011
The Contra Costa Times writes: “Six tenants at a 62-unit apartment complex here are suing Wells Fargo Bank, alleging that the bank failed to maintain a safe living environment in the complex after it foreclosed on the former owners in June 2009. The case, filed in Contra Costa Superior Court, alleges gas leaks, extensive mold, cockroaches and bedbugs, and lack of access to heat and cooking facilities during the time repairs were made to the Emerald Park Apartments at 39 and 57 N. Broadway. ‘A lot of tenants are coming to us with various habitability problems,’ said Spencer Wilson of Bay Area Legal Aid in Richmond, which is handling the case. ‘They made requests over health and safety issues that were ignored for the most part.’ The bank sold the complex to real estate investor David Saidian in December. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of general and punitive damages, and also asks that Saidian be required to maintain the complex ‘in safe and livable conditions.’ . . . Wilsonsaid some of the repairs have been superficial and ineffective. FPI Management, Inc., the company Wells Fargo hired to manage the complex, painted some of the mold-infested units but did not remove the source of the mold, Wilson said. 'They have done the bare minimum necessary to get people in there paying rent,’ he said.”