Stephen Copen – Renters Alliance

The Challenge of Holding a Nuisance Landlord to Account

June 7, 2021June 8, 2021 Mark Elliot 201 S Reeves, BHMC 5-7-3, Stephen Copen

State law says that a tenant who is “maintaining, committing, or permitting the maintenance or commission of a nuisance” on the premises has effectively terminated his lease. The landlord can petition the court for restitution of possession of the premises upon serving the tenant only a 3-day notice. It is an effective means of dealing with the nuisance and preserving the quiet enjoyment of the premises for both landlord and other tenants. But no provision in state law protects tenants when it is the landlord himself who is the nuisance!

Commentary

Stephen Copen Lays Down the Law: “Get off My Lawn!”

January 4, 2021January 4, 2021 Mark Elliot 152 S Reeves, Stephen Copen

Let it be known that Beverly Hills landlord Stephen Copen threatened to call the cops on ‘Little Guy,’ an unprepossessing Shepherd-Chihuhua senior who has a penchant for sniffing lawns up and down Reeves Drive. His offense late on Saturday night: trespassing on Copen’s lawn at #152. Little Guy was guilty. And this wasn’t his first offense. So Copen’s phone came out and Little Guy and I had to make a getaway. But not before a frank exchange of views!

News

Watch Landlord Stephen Copen Unlawfully Evict His Tenant

September 8, 2020September 9, 2020 Mark Elliot 611 Gayley, Naghmeh Makhani, no-just-cause eviction, Stephen Copen

Landlord Stephen T. Copen was arrested and booked last Monday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office after forcefully evicting a tenant from his 611 Gayley Avenue property. He was charged with misdemeanor vandalism for tossing his tenant’s property out of the unit and allegedly causing $2k in damage. Not only was this eviction illegal (there was no court order), but it occurred despite the City of LA’s eviction moratorium.

Analysis

Who’s Behind the Bosse-Gold PAC?

February 28, 2020 Mark Elliot Bahador Mahboubi, Barbara Sanborn, Behrouz Mahboubi-Fardi, Bosse-Gold PAC, Bruce Meyer, Daryoush Mahboubi-Fardi, Election 2020, Gabriel Frem, Leon Vahn, Mark Tronstein, Stephen Copen, Stephen Massman, Steven Gordon, Steven Hakim, Tom Blumenthal

If you’ve received a Bosse-Gold mailer you will be forgiven for thinking these city council candidates are running as a slate. They appear side-by-side. They celebrate endorsements in common. They even stand together as cartoon likenesses. But these candidates do not share much in style and they make an unlikely slate. The Bosse-Gold mailers are the product of a political action committee (PAC) called ‘Beverly Hills United to Support Bosse and Gold.’ Why are they jamming our mailboxes and who’s behind them?

Commentary

156 South Reeves: Another Case Study in Neglect and Hazard

October 25, 2019November 23, 2019 Mark Elliot 156 S Reeves, maintenance, neglect, Stephen Copen

Beverly Hills landlord Stephen Copen’s properties are often an object lesson to fellow landlords: When we neglect to repair our residential rental property the inevitable result will be deterioration, decay, and ultimately, a hazard we visit upon our community. That’s the lesson we can all take from 156 South Reeves today. Just take a look at that overhead garage door that fronts on Charleville. It has deteriorated so significantly that it now sags and menaces passersby with exposed, rusty nails. How did it come to this?

News

Stop Work Order at 201 South Reeves

August 25, 2019August 25, 2019 Mark Elliot 201 S Reeves, Stephen Copen, unpermitted work

When you wake to the sound of a Sunday-morning demolition you might wonder whether the landlord has a permit for that work. But when your landlord is Dr. Stephen Copen you can rest assured: of course he has no permit! We remembered this lesson when the sledgehammer-and-pickaxe demolition commenced at 8 a.m. That must mean another Copen low-budget, under-the-radar job should meet an untimely end with a stop-work order.

News

SoCalGas to Copen Tenants: It’s Up to You!

February 7, 2019June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot 152 S Reeves, landlords, Reeves Drive, Stephen Copen

Here is the message that SoCalGas has for Dr. Stephen Copen’s tenants at 152 South Reeves: pay up the $1,359 your landlord owes or we’ll shut off your gas. It should come as no real surprise to any resident in his 12-unit apartment building. Helpfully this NOTICE TO TENANTS lets residents know that they could take this burden off the landlord by assuming “individual or joint responsibility” for the account and be on the hook for money and then deduct it from the rent.

Commentary

No-Cause Evicted After 29 Years at 458 South Roxbury

April 16, 2018June 22, 2019 Mark Elliot no-just-cause eviction, Roxbury Drive, Stephen Copen

Landlord Stephen Copen served tenant David Berke and his his two sons with a 60-day, no-just-cause notice to evict after they had lived for 29 years in this apartment. The Berkes will join his upstairs neighbor whom Copen evicted after 30 years in her home. This is why

Commentary

When Landlords Put Profit Before Maintenance

December 19, 2017June 9, 2019 Mark Elliot 200 S Reeves, habitability standard, maintenance, Reeves Drive, Stephen Copen

Beverly Hills residents take well-kept properties for granted. High-and-rising values generate resources for maintenance and, in turn, maintenance keeps property values up. But maintenance is not part of the business model for some owners of residential rental property. Instead their priority is cash flow. But scrimping on maintenance not only affects tenants; it also augurs an overall decline in the city’s rental housing stock. Let’s take an example!