- Report: #492258
Complaint Review: Lori Han - Palmdale California
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Lori Han
3812 Club Rancho Dr Palmdale, 93551 California, United States of America
Phone:
6613610100
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Lori Han Peter Han Rude, obnoxious, non-English speaking Slum Lord leases ant infested home to honest, unsuspecting tenants, provides no support for required repairs and maintenance, keeps security deposit illegally Palmdale, California
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Lori Han is a 'landlord' leasing her home at 3812 Club Rancho Drive, Palmdale, CA 93551. She may be reached at 661-361-0100; that is, if she decides to answer the phone. Conveniently for her, she has not set up her voice mail box. If a water line or anything else important breaks in the house, her phone number is the only one available to contact, so good luck! (This is surely the best way to avoid paying those costly property management fees! Handle property maintenance issues yourself; then when issues arise, don't deal with them by not answering the phone, or better yet, by acting like you don't understand English!)
Problems from the very beginning with this Korean slum lord whose English speaking is limited at best. Does, however, understand English in matters of money and how to save more of her own money when leasing to tenants. Both front and back lawns looked like shredded wheat at time of move in, and curb appeal included a couple of small dead trees. She informed us that watering would bring the lawns back. Front eventually greened up, back lawn never did because sod was permanently dead and drainage was awful.
Interior of home was filthy with loose nails in the carpet you (or your child) could easily puncture your feet on, gobs of black hair clogging bathroom sinks, window blinds with dust so thick it would seem they had never been cleaned, old ant traps left in kitchen cabinetry, inoperable smoke detectors and then, the 'best' of all; a regular invasion of ants that swarmed for three months through kitchen cabinets, through bathroom walls, through bedroom walls, into shower stalls and any other conceivable place in the house they chose to appear.
When informed of the ant problem, landlord responded that we should get ant spray from Wal-Mart.
Ant infestation did require several visits from Terminix for spraying at a cost of about $300 and experiencing the swarms that continued for weeks after as they were driven out by the chemical to eventually die. Spent another $700 rejeuvenating the yard(s). Slum lord tried on occasion (when she came in person to collect the rent) to imply that back yard was dead because we didn't water it. Fact was that she hadn't watered it in the three months the house sat vacant before we leased it; so it was officially completely dead before we moved in.
First rent check was mailed to her. She called, insisting that she never got it: "I check (the mail) every day!" So now, she comes in person to collect the rent. She insists that this is how it will be for the rest of the lease; no concern whatsoever that it would be a recurring monthly imposition to us. After the first few days of every month thereafter, we had to call her to remind her to come get her own rent because she wasn't calling to arrange getting it and insisted it could never be mailed.
She would then harass us with phone calls around the middle of the month asking where her money is; then informing us that she would come "Friday, five o'clock, okay?" No, not okay; but she would show up anyway; always unannounced and almost always at dinner time ringing the doorbell, then pounding on the door if she didn't think we would answer.
Her story was always the same: "I have bills, I have mortgage..." Then, after collecting the check, she wouldn't deposit it for another three to four weeks. I thought she 'had bills', I thought she 'had mortgage'?
Now, after eleven months of being hassled on phone or in person by this slum lord, we are finally done with her as our lease expired and we moved out. She did the final walk through with an English speaking Korean real estate agent friend of hers and Lori signed off on the perfect condition of cleanliness we were turning the house over to her in. Quite the opposite of its condition when we moved in.
After three weeks of waiting to see when our security deposit would be refunded, I called the English speaking Korean real estate agent to see what she knew about it. The house was already rented to someone else, and these people were moving in; so the question 'where is my money?' seemed logical. She called me back and told me I would have the money back from Lori in the alotted 21 day time frame accorded her as landlord by the lease.
21 days have come and gone. She is at least four days late with no written explanation of why she would hold onto the money (which is required by law before the expiration of the 21 days). She tried to say over the phone that she would pay after I paid the final water bill; which, incidentally, is not past due, nor even due to be paid until the 22nd of September.
I have threatened to take her to court where tenants are more than likely awarded current damages due to them (in this case, the full security deposit of $2,000.00) and a minimum of an additional $600. The law is very clear on the issue of landlords witholding security deposits without tenant notification or for charges such as cleaning, beyond conditions of normal wear and tear.
I advise never leasing from this slum lord unless you desire taking on, at your own expense in dollars, time and personal frustration, monthly responsibility for dead, weed infested lawns, household surfaces covered in dust, dirt and grime, hair clogs in sinks, ant swarms in your shower, ant swarms in your coffee pot, being surrounded by neighboring houses on all sides with barking dogs at all hours, and, above all, the opportunity to be harrassed monthly in person and on the phone by rude, cheap, money-grubbing individuals who act indignant and superior.
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
Infuriated
Bainbridge Island,Washington,
USA
Partial Refund without consent or notification
#2
Thu, September 10, 2009
As of 9-10-09, Lori Han mailed partial refund of security deposit: she deducted, without our consent or having been notified by her in writing as required by law, our prorated amount due from the final water bill. The $1,000.00 check she practically beat down the door to collect for the prorated rent for August was returned to us, uncashed, in the same envelope with the partial refund. I guess the prorated August rent was not as urgent as she tried to make it seem.
It would seem that Lori Han, not unlike so many other Slum Lords, is really just flat broke; and due to that fact has no second thoughts about inconveniencing her tenants for her own financial shortcomings.
If she continues her unethical practices, I assume she won't pay the water bill; we will in turn be delinquent on the account and ultimately have our credit affected.
More news later on Lori Han's status as a practicing real estate agent in the state of California, and if there are repercussions for her real estate office for breach of contract and unethical practices.
