Irvine Company review: Corrupt, scandalous company-illegal, retaliatory, discriminatory rent increase

I have lived in Park Place apartments in Irvine CA, 92612 from 2019. Always paid my rent and never been late even one day. Since last year they hired a new Community Manager for Park Place Apartments, named “Kaleb Kavanaugh” who is extremely corrupt, rude, aggressive and hostile, and not up to the job, and has turned this apartment community into a BIG dump! Since this guy came here, I made several complaints about the serious safety, health, nuisance, and fire hazard issues in this apartment community, which was never taken care of by him, and I had to reach out to the government agencies and code enforcement for help.

Since then, I have been the target of retaliation, harassment, and discrimination by the abusive Community Manager, who has been disrespectful and hostile toward me and has violated my quiet enjoyment right continuously causing me a tremendous amount of distress and anxiety to the point of getting a nervous breakdown and not be able to function and do my daily tasks. Each time I spoke up and exercised my legal rights and made any legitimate complaint about all sorts of issues in here, he started bullying me and threatening me for eviction and right away he had one of their corporate, unethical, incompetent, untrustworthy attorneys named “ David Assiaban” Lice # #334945, who just got his license only 2 years ago, to start harassing me and sending me a threatening letters trying to intimidate and bully me, by making ludicrous claims and false allegations about me simply to turn the table on me and to shut me down. And coercing me to move out by giving me only a few days to do so, and with the condition of signing a release of liability to release them for having any liabilities for their illegal, retaliatory, and discriminatory actions against me, which of course I refused to sign. The community manager is not leaving me alone and has become so vindictive towards me. He has even gone to the extent of making me feel extremely unsafe in my own apartment, by sending bunch of thugs to the roof (l live in the top floor) to peek into my apartment windows and run around, stomping on the roof on top of my head, frequently, from early in the morning till late in the afternoon, harassing me and trying to intimidate me, and to force me to move out! I contacted the office each time, even escalated the issue by contacting their “customer care” department and even reached out to their Sr. Director, Community Manager, “Jody Piccinino” who was very rude and ignorant towards me and was talking over me the entire time (she no longer works for Irvine Company!), they all lied to me and denied that they know who these people are, which is a big lie, since the access to the roof is restricted and there is no way someone can have access to the roof without the key to open the secured door to the roof. Not only that, but the community manager also became even more vindictive and soon after I escalated the issue, he had their corrupt attorney “David Assailant” who also has been very ignorant and rude, to send me a meritless “3 days’ notice of covenant or quit”, falsely accusing me of being “rude to the Management” along with another coercing offer of me being able to break my lease without paying the penalty of 2 month rent, and move out in a few days, IF I signed a “release of liability”, and release them from having any liabilities for their illegal, retaliatory and discriminatory actions against me! Which of course, I never signed such a “fraudulent” document, and since the notice was a meritless, and allegations were fabricated lies, and maliciously designed for the purpose of intimidating, bullying and coercing me, to release them from any liabilities and move out, they could not even act on it.

When none of those coercing, fraudulent tactics and harassment didn’t work, they tried different tricks to get me to move out. Each day they continue pulling a new trick out of the bag to harass and retaliate against me. Recently the abusive property manager has attempted to impose an “improper” and “illegal” rent increase upon me several times, in retaliation for me making complaints and reporting habitability issues to the county inspectors and for making complaints about the safety and health issues in the property. This is clearly a case of retaliation, discrimination, and harassment. They have been harassing me by attempting to illegally and unlawfully, and as a retaliation and discrimination tactic, to increase my rent several times without a "sufficient and Written notice" and excessively, more than what is legally allowed and more than what they have increased any other tenants’ rents in this apartment community! This year after 4 years living in this property, I did not get a renewal offer once my lease expired in July, as a retaliatory and discriminatory tactic and as a punishment for exercising my legal rights

They did not even communicate that with me to let me know that my lease was not getting renewed.

So, my lease got converted automatically to a Month-to-Month tenancy, but when I wanted to pay my July's rent on my online portal, I was shocked because I noticed that they ILLEGALLY had increased my rent 30% from $2340 to $3042 WITHOUT giving me ANY PRIOR Notice, while deceitfully on June 17, they had emailed me the July's statement showing the rent staying at the same original amount of $2340 after the lease expiration date! So, they tried to raise the rent to strike back against me for exercising my legal rights. I emailed them and objected to that illegal rent increase and the Community Manager after 10 days finally replied to my email and told me that it was a “clerical error”, and my Month-to-Month rent will remain the same at $2340.

Then again after 2 months being on a Month-to-Month tenancy, on Sep 7 they sent me an email, this time giving me a renewal offer for 13 months, starting the same day with the rent increase by 12.6% with retroactive rent increase and retroactive date! I emailed them again, and objected to such illegal and unlawful rent increase, they pretended that it was “ Clerical Error” AGAIN, and now for the third time, they are attempting to increase my Month-to-Month rent by 30% AGAIN and WITHOUT any notice at all, from $2340 to $3042 and WITHOUT giving me the 90 days’ notice BEFORE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE INCREASE that is required by California Code, Civil Code - CIV § 827 to INCREASE RENT BY MORE THAN 10% FOR A RESIDENTIAL DWELLING WITH A MONTH-TO-MONTH TENANCY.

I emailed them SEVERAL TIMES again and told them that the rent increase is Illegal and not enforceable, I said “to be enforceable, the notice must meet the “statutory criteria” for rent increase, service, and the notice TIME PERIOD, it must have been in WRITING and served on the tenant “PROPERLY” with a “PROOF” of service or by certified mail with RETURN RECEIPT requested. The rent increase cannot be “unconscionable,” and any changes to the Month-to Month lease terms/rent increase must be “lawful and legal.” The rent increase of 30% is unlawful and more than what is legally allowed in the state of California, for a “MONTH to MONTH” rent increase of MORE THAN 10% you need to give a 90 DAY NOTICE before the date that increase is effective. AND for all rent increases under 10%, property owners must provide "60 days" notice before the date that increase is effective IF the tenant has lived in the unit for more than a year!

EVEN Landlords with properties exempt from rent control must obey other local laws. Also, they are REQUIRED to provide notice of exemption from AB 1482 to their tenants, so they are aware. Which is not the case with Park Place, and they NEVER provided such a notice!

I requested them to comply with the law by changing back my Month-to-Month rent to the original amount of $2340 and serve me with a proper 90 days’ notice before the effective date of the increase. The community manager, instead of doing the right thing, by adjusting my Month-to-Month rent back to the amount of $2340, again had the attorney "David Assiaban" Esq. to send me another bullying and threatening letter, with incorrect, illegal, and irrelevant content, simply to intimidate me and to justify their Illegal, unlawful, retaliatory, and discriminatory rent increase.

This is extortion, by jacking up my rent illegally and without proper notice to force me to move out, and this is a typical deceitful and illegal business practice of Irvine company. They are in Violation of California Law, and they think that tenants who are not aware of their rights, can be pushed around and are afraid of their incompetent and shady attorneys who are violating the law in the bright day light, and think they can get away with it because people are afraid of them and are helpless. Not to mention that after speaking to several other tenants who decided not to sign a new lease, and became a Month-to-Month tenancy, none of them received a rent increase more than 5-6% and their Month-to-Month rent remained the same amount for a year or even longer.

I emailed the Community Manager "Kaleb Kavanaugh", the Customer Care department, Residential Services Department, and their attorney "David Assiaban" several times, and stated that this rent increase of 30% is ILLEGAL, and retaliatory and cannot be enforced, therefore until they comply with the law, I am not REQUIRED to pay this illegal, unlawful, and retaliatory rent increase. I kept requesting them to adjust my Month-to-Month rent back to the original amount of $2340 and serve me with proper and sufficient notice, 60days (for increase less than 10%) or 90 days (for increase over 10%). But they are not willing to do that and have been ignoring my requests. If they don't comply with the law and don't change back my Month-to-Month rent effective IMMEDIATLEY, I WILL be fighting that in court, and THEY WILL LOSE.

This is a typical way that Irvine Company run their shady and scandalous business. I strongly believe they need to be investigated for their shady, fraudulent, unlawful and unethical business practices, they are many people who their rights have been violated by Irvine Company, but they don’t have the resources to fight them back. This company, their staff and their incompetent and shady attorneys, prey on that fact, also since they have the monopoly of the market in Orange County they think they can run the show, and when it comes to the point that someone speaks up and exercise their legal rights, they use their unethical, shady, and incompetent attorneys to bully and intimidate people, so they can continue abusing the system and the people and getting away with it. Irvine Company, their staff and their attorneys really need to get a formal investigation and receive an enforcement action for their fraudulent business practices.