RATEMYLANDLORD.COM	LANDLORD DETAILS
Ron Bombiger
LANDLORD'S ADDRESSES (1)
2121 James M Wood Blvd
Apt 319
Los Angeles, CA 90006
UNITED STATES
LANDLORD'S PROPERTIES (1)
2121 James M Wood Blvd
Apt 319
Los Angeles, CA 90006
UNITED STATES
RATINGS
	OVERALL
(1)	The landlord was easy to work with.
(1)	The landlord was forthcoming and accomodating.
(1)	The landlord communicated in a timely manner.
(1)	The landlord addressed my concerns.
(1)	The landlord's expectations of me were reasonable.
(1)	The landlord conducted a proper move-in inspection.
(1)	The landlord respected my privacy.
(1)	The landlord promptly completed repairs.
(1)	The landlord accurately completed repairs.
(1)	The landlord conducted a proper move-out inspection.
(1)	The landlord promptly refunded my deposit.
(1)	I would rent from this landlord again.
COMMENTS (1)
[05-Jun-2019] Renting an apartment in the Glen Donald Building at 2121 James M Wood Blvd is the only thing in my life that I whole-heartedly regret. Over my 16 month lease I experienced harassment by my landlord and the housing board, I was threatened, surveilled, discriminated against, extorted for money, my property was stolen (numerous times) and I was made to feel unsafe in my own home. Here are a couple facts/experiences I had regarding the building and neighborhood: 1. The building is beautiful and was built in the 1920s. It has a very pretty courtyard, and also has a really strange decor reminiscent of the hotel in The Shining. 2. This building is a condo; some units are owned by their occupants, and some are rented out by landlords. 3. The Glen Donald Management Company is in charge of the building works and shared spaces. 4. The building manager's name is Gloria - she essentially runs the entire building and single-handedly cleans, receives packages and performs 'security'......more to say on this below. 5. There's only street parking in this neighborhood (no parking in the building), and it’s often really hard to find. There were nights when I had to search for 30-45 mins and then walk a *long* way back to my apartment. If you invite guests over, suggest that they lyft. 6. Due to the high level of poverty and homelessness, combined with the building's nonexistent security, the building was broken into at least once a month when I was living there - but often more. If you visit the property, you'll notice that all of the exterior doors have been pried open with crowbars and then 'repaired' with metal strips. 7. Because the building is so old, there are frequent floods/burst pipes and other plumbing issues. If you decide to rent here, be sure to keep your valuables in waterproof containers and try to get renters insurance that would cover damage from leaking pipes. Also....be prepared for frequent water shut offs. 8. The building is infested with rats. I’m a very clean person, and I no-kill trapped *dozens* of rats from my kitchen. At all times of day I would see them running through my apartment. I didn’t have any issues with bedbugs or cockroaches or any other types of vermin, but the rat infestation was really really horrible. 8. There is no buzzer/keypad at the door, and there's no official way to receive packages or guests. I suggest picking up your packages up at an amazon center or post office - don't have them delivered to the building - because it’s likely that they'll either be stolen, or the mailperson won't be able to access the building and you'll have to pick up your package regardless. 9. There is a community room in the basement but it’s severely outdated and dirty, and tenants are often punished for using the space at all. For instance, a group of tenants (myself included) gathered in there to watch game of thrones. The next day, Gloria called and chastised us for scratching the floor. Keep in mind that this floor is warped from water leaks, it’s already scratched and worn, and the community room is dark, dingy, uninsulated……it’s a crappy basement. The scratch that we were responsible for was immediately buffed out with Minwax. In short, tenants are made to feel unwelcome and are thus deterred from actually using the community room. 10. There is a gym, but like the community room it’s pretty nasty and isn’t furnished properly. Gloria charges a $60 one-time fee for access to the gym. After paying the fee it took me three hours to clean up the space enough for me to use it. 11. There are security cameras and Gloria obsessively watches them, although there are never any charges brought against people committing B&E. What I mean to say is: she uses the cameras to spy on and police the tenants. 12. I locked my bike in the basement bike rack (with a kryptonite chain) and my bike was stripped apart. Everything was taken except for the parts that were chained down (the frame and the front tire). There were dozens of bikes locked in the same location, and all of them were taken or disassembled. On a different occasion my wet towels were taken from the dryer in the laundry room. Tenants (myself included) begged the board repeatedly to do *anything* to improve the security and they refused. On one evening someone tried to break into my apartment while I was home alone. I didn’t even bother to bring it up to Gloria or the housing board. 13. I put plants on my windowsills and the housing board sent me letters telling me that they would fine me $100/day until I removed them. I never removed them, and they never enforced the fines. 14. The building also rents storage units that are inside the building. A previous tenant had thousands of dollars of camera equipment stolen from one of these storage spaces. Here are some of the things I experienced with my landlord, Ron Bombiger – the owner of my apartment #319: 1. Ron Bombiger does not live in California – he lives in Florida – and I’ve never met him. This means that he relies on his tenants and Gloria to perform all of the apartment maintenance and inspections. When I moved in, the apartment was *filthy* - something that would have been avoided if the landlord had actually inspected the place. So, for close to two weeks I was essentially squatting in an apartment that I was paying full rent for while it was being painted and cleaned. I was living under a drop cloth. 2. Ron was so absent when I moved in that I was never shown around the building, I wasn’t introduced to any of the housing board, and I wasn’t ‘shown the ropes’ or presented with any of the building’s rules. This caused a lot of trouble for me, because I would unknowingly break a rule (like having my dog in the courtyard on a leash, where apparently dogs aren’t allowed to walk through the courtyard) and then I would later be served a fine from the housing board. All this left me feeling like an unwelcome criminal in my own home. 3. Ron also harassed me so intensely regarding my service animal that I had to seek help from lawyers and activists at the Housing Rights Center on Wilshire Blvd. He called me numerous times and threatened to evict me because he thought that I was lying about my service animal, he called my doctor’s office and interrogated her, and he also told me that he would ‘come and find me’ on campus, which led me to have to inform the campus police. The HRC confirmed that his behavior was illegal and took over all of the communications between me and my landlord’s lawyer. It took months to resolve. 4. Ron had initially agreed to reimburse me for some purchases I made for the apartment (curtains, paint, light fixtures, etc) but then he later refused. I ended up having to deduct the money I spent out of my rent payment (something that’s not entirely legal) and he never said anything about it. 5. Ron also demanded that I get $300,000 worth of insurance coverage for the apartment. I never did it, and he eventually stopped bringing it up. 6. After repairing the old fridge in the apartment a couple of times, it eventually became ‘totaled’ and wasn’t worth continuing to repair. Due to the very strained communication between me and the landlord, I decided to buy a replacement fridge and I never brought it up to him. 7. I was late on rent a couple of times – once during Christmas, once due to my own forgetfulness, and once due to a banking error (I was electronically transferring money from my small credit union to his sister’s small credit union). If I was *one day* late on rent, he would issue a 3-day notice to pay or quit and hire a process server to serve me the paperwork. He would also call Gloria (as if it was any of her business). He would then demand that I pay a late rent fee, lawyers’ fees, and pay for the process server. 8. When working with the housing rights center I discovered that all of Ron’s properties are supposed to be registered under the rent stabilization ordinance, but he’s evaded registering them with the city of LA. Phrased differently: my old unit is supposed to be under rent control, but he hasn’t been abiding by those laws. 9. Ron also illegally terminated my lease (although, by this time I was ready to get the hell out of there), by saying that he himself was going to live in the unit. He sent me a letter in which he claimed I owed him ~$600 (fees from item 7). 10. Considering all of the things I’ve listed above, I made the tough decision to withhold the last month’s rent from him out of fear that he’d pocket my security deposit without cause. The apartment was spotless and in far better shape than when I moved in, and the security deposit was equal to a rent payment. During my last week in the apartment –during a *moving sale* - Ron served me with eviction papers. I now have to deal with eviction court – and am worried that I’ll have this on my record – for an apartment I no longer occupy. Despite having such a traumatic experience there, I spent lots of money and time getting the apartment perfectly clean, patching and painting the walls, setting out rat repellent, and getting the space ready for the next tenant. I wouldn’t wish this experience upon anyone; to be treated this way – without any human decency – while simultaneously paying more in rent for a studio apartment than most people pay in mortgages for their entire home. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that the building management and my landlord are able to resolve their behavior and modes of operation – people’s safety, property and wellbeing are at risk.
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