It all began
On April 1995 when my wife and two daughters moved into our new home at Ojai Oaks Mobile Estates,
950 Woodland Ave. Space 9.
It was a previously owned home. Who's owner passed away. And was sold to us for 19.000 thousand dollars.
At the time of the sale we asked the realtor of price reality if we could have the place inspected and he told us that there was another couple wanting it and the owners where going to sell it to the ones who came up with the money first. And an inspection would take another two weeks and that the owner's would sell it to the other couple. If we pressed having it inspected. (I should have known something was fishy).
But being first homebuyers we where to excited to really understand the full measure of what was happening. So we bought it. Paid cash. Full amount.
A couple months later my neighbors, I had found out removed several large cactus from our side of the fence before we moved in may 95.
Also put in a red brick boarder along the bottom of the fence. Added more chain link fence and a gate.
All without the parks permission, (as I was the asst. Manager at the time and no plans wherever given to management about the changes).
A couple months later they put in a grass lawn in the back of their house along the property lines and the front of their house also. Then added another brick boarder dividing their property from ours in the front.
This now added to the flooding problem this property had for the past twenty years. With a red brick boarder now in place it acted as a dam not allowing the water to drain away from our home. The cactuses they removed without permission left a mound of dirt that ran runoff water back onto our home.
I contacted management and was told by Art (the manager that there had been a flooding problem with that home for years. And asked if not Hal from Price reality had told me about it.) I told him no he did not. Art told me that they should not have sold it to me that it has several problems. I said oh well a fixer upper.
That was a mistake.
So I fixed my home up, added new plumbing rewired all the electrical fixtures, painted the outside as well as the inside. Added a room, a few windows, and new carpeting and new kitchen appliances. Now for the outside.
Planted new grass replaced the red brick boarders with rocks added a flagpole, new plants. And Walla!
Anew home. But with a busted up driveway where a tree (a pine tree) had under grown the concrete and caused it to split apart.
But management told us that the tree and driveway where our problem.
The next year 1996 during the winter storm I noticed a waterfall coming off the back of the hill behind our home. Reported it to management and was told that they would look into it.in the mean time our children where getting sick way to often and my wife and I where having sever breathing problems come the spring.
1997 the same scenario as 1996 except we come to find out that the land they used to build the Mobil home park was once a swamp. And had an artesian well in the hill that runs adjacent to the homes in the front of the park. Spaces 1-11. Spaces 1-7 had wells dug down into the ground in back of the properties to keep the ground water pumped out. As it would collect and run underneath there homes.
1998 the fun began, a really heavy rain that winter started a whole bunch of new events. I video taped the runoff from the back of the hillside and the water flooding around our home.in February I called fema and made a flood report. Fema sent an inspector and confirmed that we indeed had severed damage to our home.
And that it was shifting and sinking. I turned all reports and pictures over to Star Management. But like always nothing was done.
I then called Gordon mobile home co to come out and give me an estimate as to relevel our home. The mobile home tech crawled under the home to inspect it. While under there he told me that the humidity was very strong under the house and that there was water dripping from the beams. There was also a black mold growing everywhere on our home on the floorboards and around the air return vents in the floor. After completing inspection I was handed an estimate. Which included lifting up the home off the ground so that all the mud could be scrapped out and dirt put back, replacement of all our piers and wooden blocks that the piers rest on. All our wooden blocks had deteriouratated due to water standing under our home (it would take water standing under the home for twenty years to badly rot them away like they where) and the piers where rusted to the point that they no longer held our home level. The only reason our home had not fallen to the ground is because it now rest's on the earthquake braces. (These are not to be used for leveling porpoises) only used in an earthquake to keep your home from falling to the ground. The estimate came out two 16.000 dollars.
When I took all the info to management they told be good luck, that no one is going to spend that much money on an old mobile home repairing it.
I was told to sell it and buy a new one. We contacted an insurance carrier to possibly get flood insurance and their inspector told us that the home had looked to be damaged already and for several years. We where refused insurance because of and all ready excisting condition that looked as if was never addressed in the past.
1999 Dec found out the mold under our home was the type that can kill and or seriously injure you.
And was doing just that our youngest daughter had sever bronkitest problems all the time and spent more time home in bed than at school. Our oldest daughter had moved out in 1997 at seven teen because she could not stand the mold smell on all her clothing. We let her go because she was right and no matter what we did to kill the smell or mold it would come back. We felt tired all the time and fights would break out between us because of the constant headaches. The humidity over the past couple years had soaked the floorboards and now mold was growing underneath the carpeting. I wrote this time a nasty letter to Star management but like all the others went ignored. And stopped paying the rent in March 1999. Because of the ongoing problems. But after we filed a response to the unlawful detainer showing the fema reports and the mold issues three days before it was to go to trial the unlawful detainer was dropped with the promise to us that Star Management would repair our home. We agreed all across the board. Star Management broke all their promises. Did nothing to help or even look at the property.
2001 one day the whole house shook and felt like an earthquake, I ran outside but everything was normal I asked my neighbor if we had just had a earthquake and he said no and that he heard a loud pop come from the back of my home. I looked around the outside and noticed nothing new so I looked inside. The home shifted so badly that it ripped my walls apart broke the plumbing going to the back bathroom. Busted the toilet clean off the floor. The home shifted so badly that the shower door never fit square again. And I am not going to go into the electrical nightmare. I called the fire dept and they looked underneath and told me that all my 2x6's where rotted and they held up my floor and that all the water problems where the parks responsibility. I also reported to them that there was a water drain pipe coming off the back of the property that was draining water off his property and causing more water to collect. They inspected it but mike (the one with the pipe) lied to them and said it had not worked for years. My video in real time shows it working very well. And the video shows it's not like I did not try to pump the excess water away. And I gave all this info to the management in dec. They did nothing.in March we stopped paying the rent and sent them another letter. The one-year anniversary of the first time we stopped paying rent
Now thus is where the deception and lies and the way of the Ventura Supreme Court.
First response from Star Management march 24
The first letter from Jeffrey Leek of Star Management was a farce. To show how much they cared Jeffery Leek said he sent along with the letter a 30-day notice to pay rent or quit and a 60-day notice to vacate the property. It stated that the first inspection of my home and of the drainpipe that drained water from the home located above us on the hill behind us was a tree root. And that my complaint had no merit. Next Jeffery Leek said he would come out and inspect my home himself. Upon inspection Jeffery Leek asked how old my home was and I told him it was manufactured in 1973. Jeffery Leek then told me (well theirs your problem, your home is so old it's falling apart). My mothers Mobil home in another park is the same age and has none of these problems. Jeffery Leek then asked me if I was going to pay my rent and I told him no. Not until you take responsibility for your property. Jeffery Leek then said ok you little shit you tried this once before and you lost. Now I am going to take your home this time. I then contacted an atty. That wrote Jeffery Leek back.
Now here it is July and Star management has finally responded to our atty. Letter. That he (Jeffery Leek) was going to inspect the home site again. Why when they claim that there was no problem to begin with.
Well this time it was to get together with the homeowner behind us and to tell him what was going on. After a leangthy conversation with Mike the owner of the home on the hill behind us and Jeffery Leek they made a pack that they where going to work together against us. Mike told Jeffery Leek that if he needed him he would say anything he wanted him to say because he was pissed at Brown (me) fir turning the problem of the pipe over to the fire dept. Mike admitted to Jeffery Leek that he had put the pipe in years ago thinking it would not harm anyone. Jeffery Leek said to Mike that he had better change the pipe around so Mr. Brown's accusations would not hold water. For the next several weeks after the conversation Mike tore his swimming pool deck apart and rerouted the drainpipes and built a whole new deckhouse.
August 18
Yet another inspection to my home but with one difference. The inspection this time showed the water pipe was no longer working because Jeffery Leek shoved a tape measure into the end of the pipe and it did not go all the way in. OK said Jeffery Leek lets see Brown explain how a pipe that's plugged can pour water out of it. He laughed and said (like I said no merit). Mr. Jeffery Leek this time took pictures of my sprinkler system to show that the water from the hillside was none other than water that was backsplashed onto our home. Mike who was standing at his fence told Jeffery Leek that he would say in court that Mr. Brown waters his hillside everyday. (During the winter months I don't use my sprinklers as the rain takes care of it for me).
Finally on July 30 we are served with an unlawful detainer. Five months have passed since we quit paying our rent all the time that lapsed was to get the pipe taken care of and everyone's story straight.
Dec
Now for the nightmare of the Ventura county courts.
If you don't think o the courts are crooked think again. The Judges especially the first day was when Jeffery Leek argued that because I singed a contract that said I could not sue them, the contract was thrown out and my request for a jury trial was granted. And thus we picked the jury and went home.
The next day was when it all fell apart. Upon arriving at the court house I was amazed to see the jury lingering around the hall in clear ear shot of Star management, listening to them talk about the case and saying lies about us.
Next they presented their case as if they had just filled it yesterday and no mention of the time lapse. Management admitted they never served a 30-day notice to us and even with that the crooked judge did not throw it out of court. All the breaks we had the jury took in the hallway while Jeffery Leek talked about the case and jurors not more that 3 feet away and the same for lunch. When I complained. Only then did the bailiff remove anyone connected to the case and made them move further down the hall. During closing arguments the jury did not seem a bit interested in hearing my atty. But for Jeffery Leek they believed every lie he told them. And to make matters worse I was not allowed to cross-examine all his lies and tell why I had done certain things to the property to help direct water away. Why did it take so long for Jeffery Leek to file the unlawful detainer. Because they had to get everyone involved and get everyone's story straight and plug up a pipe that could have won my case. Jeffery Leek even lied and said I moved a drainpipe to cause the flooding on propose. (The drainpipe was put in before I ever bought the coach by the roofers.
It was installed in 1984 ten years before I bought the home.
So here we are evicted out of our home, Christmas day, the 20 thousand dollars we spent to buy it plus the 30 thousand dollars we put into it was lost we had to walk away from our home and get nothing for it.
Now tell me where this screwed up government has the right to throw someone out of there home because of lies and jury tampering.
And all the judge did was turn his back. We are out 50 thousand dollars and for what. Lies, a crooked judge and a very sly Management company. Who took the time of serving the unlawful detainer so they could fix a problem that would cost them a bundle to repair.
0 comments