Landlord Watch!!!
Exposing the Wealthy Landlords Behind Proposition 98 and Their Deceptive Attack on Renters.
Wealthy apartment and mobile home park owners spent millions to get Prop. 98 on the June 2008 ballot. Prop. 98 is a deceptive scheme that would wipe out rent control and eliminate important renter protections like laws requiring the fair return of deposits. Prop. 98 is the worst kind of special interest proposition there is: It benefits a few wealthy landlords at the expense of millions of Californians. Landlord Watch is a periodic publication intended to expose the landlords behind Prop. 98 and their attack on renters.
Landlord Watch:
Tatum-Kaplan Financial Corporation
Total Contributions to Prop. 98: $200,000.00*
Background:
Background:
Tatum-Kaplan owns or operates more than 20 mobile home parks throughout California. A news search of Tatum and Kaplan uncovers dozens of news articles painting a troubling picture of landlords with a history of mistreating tenants and neglecting their properties. The company has been sued, fined or cited numerous times for...
Operating Slum-Like Conditions
In Mira Loma, Kaplan and Tatum were accused of operating a ‘slumlike’ mobile home park.
“…more than 100 residents at Swan Lake have accused the partners in court of allowing their property to deteriorate. Park residents contend… that owners and managers neglected the Swan Lake electrical system, which caused blackouts."
Operating Slum-Like Conditions
In Mira Loma, Kaplan and Tatum were accused of operating a ‘slumlike’ mobile home park.
“…more than 100 residents at Swan Lake have accused the partners in court of allowing their property to deteriorate. Park residents contend… that owners and managers neglected the Swan Lake electrical system, which caused blackouts."
“They also said the park had an inadequate septic system that allowed raw sewage to back up into homes…”
“Other complaints about maintenance have been made in lawsuits filed by tenants in several Kaplan-Tatum parks, including Tokay Manor in Fontana. Conditions there prompted city officials to declare the park a public nuisance...”
-Source: Riverside Press Enterprise, “Rent Control Foe Pushing Prop. 199”, February 18, 1996
Rent Gouging
In 2000 a Santa Clara County Judge ordered Kaplan and Tatum to pay a $1.2 million judgment for “improperly inflated space rents well in excess of the city’s rent control regulations.”
“PROSECUTORS ACCUSE MOBILE-HOME PARK OWNERS OF RENT-GOUGING”
“After a five-year delay, prosecutors went to trial… accusing the owners of two mobile-home parks of rent gouging and running an intricate sham to skirt San Jose’s rent control ordinance.”
“The companies… are managed by Thomas Tatum and Jeffrey Kaplan.”
“Santa Clara prosecutors claim that… park operators manipulated 90 prospective tenants…”
-San Jose Mercury News, Prosecutors Accuse Mobile-Home Park Owners of Rent-Gouging, January 8, 2000
*CA Secretary of State filings as of 2/22/08: http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1296303&view=late1. Individual contributions from Donna Kaplan = $33,333.34; Jeffrey Kaplan = $66,666.66; Thomas Tatum = $75,000; Claudia Tatum = $25,000.00
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