One of the largest residential landlords in San Francisco allegedly "hid" millions in rental security deposits - potentially affecting thousands of tenants, according to lawsuits.
Tenants, claiming security deposits were not returned, filed a class action lawsuit this past month against CitiApartments and their related companies.
"They've blatantly violated the law," Brian Devine, an attorney who is representing former tenants, said of CitiApartments. "They really don't have a defense."
Last Friday, CitiApartments and 78 individual defendants failed to formally answer questions posed by the class action suit, which Devine says he hoped would provide answers for his clients.
The average security deposit is between $1,800 and $2,500. About 5,500 units remain in control of CitiApartments and their companies spread throughout San Francisco says Devine, which means more than $10 million in deposits owed to San Francisco tenants have disappeared.
Joy Anderson went into the offices of CitiApartments with her 8-year-old son and demanded her rental deposit back after weeks of unanswered calls - she and her son were escorted out of the building, according to the complaint filed on her behalf.
"I was counting on that money," Anderson said of her $1,800 deposit that was not returned to her until months after she moved out of her San Francisco apartment at 300 Buchanan Street. "To a single mother, that amount of money is very significant."
Anderson picketed CitiApartments' headquarters on Market Street last month directly after she received her deposit check to warn other tenants of the company's capriciousness.
CitiApartments and their partnered companies, comprising of the Lembi Group, Skyline Reality, Trophy Properties, and Ritz Apartments, have a combined mass of properties in San Francisco that was estimated of last year to include 307 buildings, according to Devine.
"We're not sure how widespread this practice has been and what the inner-relationship of these companies is like," Devine says of what he calls CitiApartments' "limited liability companies" that each have an ownership over a housing property in San Francisco.
"It appears to be a shell scheme to hide money," he said. "The money could be swaying back to the Lembi family, who owns CitiApartments, or to buy more buildings."
CitiApartments and the Lembi Group refused to comment after numerous calls and emails for this story. However, they formally filed their denial of the initial complaint of unreturned rental deposits last Friday, according to Devine.
"We're trying to have the complaint dismissed," Daniel Stern, an attorney representing Trophy Properties, said.
Stern says his clients were not involved in non-refunded security deposits. However, Trophy Properties was named in the class action suit filed on behalf of the tenants who haven't received their deposits.
In all, 51 properties were foreclosed by the Union Bank of Switzerland and more than 60 extra buildings are currently under foreclosure proceedings, according to filings from the San Francisco Superior Court.
A separate lawsuit made by the Laramar Group, who acquisitioned the 51 buildings from the Lembi Group, alleges as to why CitiApartments and their associated companies didn't pay up, according Steve Boyack, vice president of asset management for the Laramar Group.
"The Lembi Group did not have any money left," Boyack said.
"The prior management apparently commingled security deposits with other funds in their operating accounts," the lawsuit says. "[The Lembi Group] used those security deposit funds to pay monies owed."
Boyack says the Lembi Group, when it transferred properties to Laramar, failed to give security deposits for the 1,100 housing units spread over those 51 buildings.
Devine says many tenants have received rental deposit checks from CitiApartments that have bounced.
"It looks like a messy situation," he says describing CitiApartments' lack of responsibility. "It's just the tip of the iceberg."
Devine's law firm, Seeger Salvas LLP, is currently representing only two tenants. However, he says dozens of people, ranging from college students to the elderly, have contacted him regarding unreturned deposits.
The outcome of this situation might not appear as bleak as it sounds. Some tenants have already gotten their deposits back.
"Residents should not be concerned about receiving their security deposits," Boyack declares of those tenants who are worrying.
UBS whom reclaimed the foreclosed properties from CitiApartments have set aside a fund for its residents who did not receive their deposits, he said.
The people who kept calling CitiApartments asking for their deposits back and those who knocked on doors eventually received their money, but Devine attests that this is a very small percentage of the potentially thousands of tenants who are possibly affected.
California civil code section 1950.5 states tenants are entitled to damages and refunds worth three times the amount of the original deposit if it's withheld for more that 21 days by a landlord acting in bad faith.
The law mandates [CitiApartments] to pay back the tenants before it can pay back its creditors says Devine on the legal priority the rental company is facing.
San Francisco Tenants Union Director Ted Gullickson says some current tenants might want to think about not paying their last month's rent in lieu of not receiving their deposit money.
Current tenants can look at the list of all 138 properties under CitiApartments' control at the Seeger Salvas LLP class action lawsuit website: http://apartmentlawsuit.com/properties.
Devine says he is not sure how long the litigation will take, but that the case is strong against CitiApartments and their companies.
"They've still got rent money coming in - it's going somewhere," he says.
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