How Builders in LA Get Away with Murder

2980 Waverly Drive: Who did this to you, sweetie?

Beware, Los Angeles, for scary developers are amongst you. This is a story about a great vintage house, turned into a wicked Haunted House, by inept city departments and sneaky flippers. 2980 Waverly Drive. I had to dig deep into the murky clay of Building and Safety to find what builders and flippers like Re-Inhabit can get away with in Los Angeles. Turns out, a lot of bad things!

Built in 1926, 2980 Waverly Drive in Silver Lake was bought February 2013 ($668K) and sold by John Aaroe Group, September 2013, for twice the price, ($1,250,000). The 6 months in between were hell in Silver Lake.

Zillow describes the house as:

This 3 bed, 2.5 bath Tudor-style home in Silver Lake has a deep setback from the street and large, professionally landscaped yard.

(NOTE: the “setback” is because LADWP owns the highwire towers all up and down Waverly, one of which is right next door. Homeowners don’t own that land. All houses have to be built several yards away. And by “landscaped” yard, they mean a barren, needy lawn.)

Nearly 2000 sq ft of living space form an ideal layout. .. There are vistas everywhere and tons of natural light.

This is a new flipper house from ReInhabit, who says, “We did what we wanted, ignoring LA. City building codes can Go to Hell!” The rehabbers claim the cement walls , including the Bastard Wall,  and the new Scary Devil Driveway on the front lawn, are standout elements to interest homeowners everywhere.

Okay, the last paragraph is my own. But I bet they thought about writing it. After all, this house is the poster image on their website. They are proud of what they got away with.

I was in the Waverly house a couple of times in February 2012. The floor plans were odd, and not quite graceful, in my opinion, especially upstairs. But some of the rooms were fun, and I liked the old tile in the bathrooms and the curved ceilings.

I don’t know what changes and remodeling the flippers did inside. Let’s assume they didn’t do too much harm. This article is about what they did on the outside, to deleteriously affect the neighbors and the entire community, as developers so often do.

Builders in LA should learn from movie location scouts: talk to your neighbors, ask for understanding, keep to legal hours, and give the neighbors money or fruit baskets, to leave a good taste in their mouth!

This didn’t happen on Waverly.

How Re-Inhabit made the sausage.

Clear-cutting decades old trees…because air conditioning is cheaper?

Was Think Green too avant-garde for these hasty re-developers? Silver Lake is only a mile from Griffith Park, and coyotes, skunks, opossums, Great Horned Owls, numerous songbirds, etc, live here. Waverly also has the only reptiles I’ve seen in a major city, including lizards and geckos. Reptiles are the most endangered animals in Los Angeles.

Re-Inhabit started off by stripping the very long lot, with probably 40 trees felled. Now, I would agree that the lot was a teeny bit overgrown from the previous owner. (picture on top.) But a microforest in Los Angeles is something to respect, no? If only they had hired a licensed landscape architect, instead of illegal tree cutters.

It took a week, but the flippers successfully destroyed all the mature vegetation and attractive landscaping for the house. They used the bare dirt left behind to store all their trash and garbage for several months. And a week before the house was listed for sale they put in…grass. Always a good idea in a city with drought for years! /sarcasm

 

What noise? That’s just construction music!

After hearing chainsaws for a week straight, you might think the worst was over. No way! When construction crews step off private property and into public areas,  pay close attention. They will attempt to intimidate, with grinding, sawing, destruction noise and generators that shake your walls. You have a legal right to peace and quiet, and house remodellers are, basically, a nuisance.

When I realized the loud, dirty, street-blocking construction was going to be there for the long haul, I started to keep track of things. The first thing I noticed was the illegal hours. They were starting work too early (unlicensed workers nattering under your window? No! Nor is moving any construction equipment okay before this hour!) and also they worked on Sundays.

It’s all spelled out here: 41.40 LAMC– Construction Noise Hours. And you can call the police and give them this municipal code, so that they will come out and tell them. Also, report this to Building and Safety directly.

Then there was the street itself that they hijacked…

Should a flipper or developer have eminent domain over your street? Is Silver Lake chopped liver?

PARKING HOGS

Every day, construction trucks. or personal cars, or trash dump trucks,  took up every space on both sides of the block – and were double parked for most of the day. Oh, and the nights, too. They illegally “claimed” all the parking spaces for the next day by setting out cones and trash bins overnight, as well as horrific trash trucks with garbage spewing over the back tailgate.

Sargent Poma at the Dept of Transportation told me that if any construction crews are going to take over street parking like this for any extended amount of time, they have to pay for a permit.

This makes perfect sense: it’s a private company using public resources. Film crews pay city permits every day when they take over streets.

In addition, Street Services investigated  complaints about the parkway (The parkway is the area between the street and private property. It usually includes a sidewalk, but Waverly doesn’t have sidewalks.) It’s illegal to claim parking spaces with cones or trash cans, and construction equipment can’t be left out hanging all over the road or parkway — it must be hitched to a truck or car. And no double parking all afternoon!

Reinhabit, the horrifyingly dense contractors, also made a deal with the house next door, 2974 Waverly, to use their parkway to dump a huge pile of dirt. They marked it, like a dog, in between carcasses of their vehicles and equipment. 

Have you gotten to know concrete trucks up close and personal? You will want to ward them off with crosses or garlic or steel fences. But you have legal rights, too, some of which I’ll spell out in the Resource section below.

How Re-Inhabit Tricked Building and Safety and the City of LA

We know a little bit about how flippers deal with city codes from the interview CurbedLA did with Re-Inhabit just 6 months before this:

Got any tips for dealing with the Department of Building and Safety?

John: Instead of going to the department’s main office Downtown, I recommend going to their office in Van Nuys or another location. And bring Wite-out: if there’s something on your permit that the inspector doesn’t like and it’s not crucial, you can just white it out, and then they’ll be like, “Oh. Okay.”

Rudy: Be honest with the inspectors, or you’ll end up paying for it down the road–but don’t talk any more than you need to.

In other words, don’t be honest, and do forget to mention some of your naughty projects, even after they’re done, and it’s too late to inspect anything! Retroactive permits are popular amongst the developers set. Building and Safety never got back to me on how many after-the-fact  permits they rubber stamp each year, but I estimate it’s over 50%. That way, pesky inspectors don’t come by to look at your work until it’s done and sealed!

Most egregious of all in this flipper house was the Bastard Wall, built against code, without a permit, or Building & Safety inspection. And because it extended into the parkway, it stole city property while it added land value to the house.   Scary Deadly Driveway was also built without inspection or permits…and endangers the whole street. Scream and Scream Again!

The Bastard Wall…no one wants to own it!

The original wall, made of weathered brick, about 2′ high, probably dates from the year the house was built in 1926. The concrete wall ReInhabit put up goes all around the property, and is over 6′ tall on the sides, and 56″ in front. According to B&S code, walls need a permit if they are over 42″. But no permit issued, so, oops! No one wants to be named as the creator of this wall, so it’s a bastard!

It’s worse than breaking city code for height, however: on the street side,  the new wall is built  further out than the old one, further out than any house on the street, actually. It’s grabbing public parkway for the personal use of the flippers and home owner, and stealing it from the public good. 

There are 3 apartment buildings within a few yards of this house, with hundreds of people affected by the rehabbers’ selfish actions.  There’s only room for a skinny car now. Joggers, or the tots and moms walking to Ivanhoe Elementary are out of luck. Walk in the middle of the street, we don’t care!

My first complaints were to Bob Steinbach, Chief of the Inspection Bureau of B&S. He suggested I email another senior inspector, and we exchanged a couple of dozen emails about the ongoing problems at 2980 Waverly. (This is how you get “handled” by Building and Safety.)

Early on, this inspector  told me that they had investigated the wall height, and it was under 42″, so it didn’t need a permit. A couple of weeks later I decided I would measure it myself, and it was 56″ to 6′. When I told him this, the inspector immediately changed course, and replied that the height didn’t matter now, and there was some other secret building code that made it all okay in the end! He sounded like The Joker!

The Scary Deadly Driveway

Zillow describes the parking as Unknown. That’s peculiar! Oh, well, perhaps they didn’t want to mention the private driveway, 2 lots long in the back, which could park 6 or 7 cars in a line, or 4 cars with a garage (photo below). That’s a pretty cool feature, but Re-Inhabit decided it would improve local property values /sarcasm if the new owners were also allowed to park…on their front lawn!

Perhaps it’s a hipster homage to trailer trash lawns? The lawn they turned to mud is not wide enough to meet DOT’s specs for a driveway (18′), there’s no permit from B&S, nor was it approved by Street Use. It’s unclear if it has an apron or an approach, both of which Street Use in Street Services say are necessary for a legal driveway. It’s surrounded by a wood fence and trees and foliage, making it dangerous for both drivers on the lawn and street traffic. It’s totally blind.

Within the first week of its appearance I was driving down Waverly and all of a sudden backup lights came towards my driver door from 2 yards away. My heart was racing. Doesn’t this make you shiver? Yup, it was the contractor pulling out of the pitch black onto the road, with no view for any of us. Car accidents are maybe the most scary.

Run, run fast, my darling!

Where was the city while codes were ignored and violations were taking place? And what about  public land being appropriated by a private investor, like a modern land-grabbing baron?

I guess they got terrified, too! They all went into hiding!

There are many city departments involved in building anything, and I called all of them, multiple times. Building and Safety, of course, Dept of Transportation, Parking enforcement, Street Services, LAPD, Public Works, Bureau of Engineering, etc. All were involved, none cared to correct the problems.

But they don’t mind correcting you! When I informed Ms Bowie in Street Services that one of her inspectors was rude to me, she said “You shouldn’t have told him that he gets pensions and health benefits from the city – it’s demeaning.” Oh, okay!

In addition, LADWP was involved, but looked the other way.  Both the wall and the driveway were actually built on “borrowed” land.  Because of the high-voltage wires and towers that Waverly is famous for, LADWP owns all the land circling them, for several yards. Both structures are encroaching on LADWP property…and the builders never applied for an encroachment request!

I also discovered that Waverly Drive itself has an easement of 30 feet, meaning Public Works can plow right over the wall and anything else in the way, should they choose to enlarge this narrow street. That Bastard Wall will be knocked flat. :) Not sure who would buy this property…

City planning isn’t rocket science. Any contractor, architect or engineer examining the documents and maps would see this plan before it was even started…if they choose to.

Yet, with all these city departments, armed and ready to assist citizens…there seems to be very little enforcement. And the main office everyone pointed to — and there was a lot of pointing going on — was B&S – Building & Safety.

Building and Safety threat: “I know where you live!“

All inspectors at B&S are hard to find – their office hours are usually about half an hour long, starting at 6:00 AM. (apparently they don’t have email or cell phones for the rest of the day.) 

But they have an easy way to report violations online now. And B&S claims anonymity to all complaints. I used a fake name for all reports – no one wants to tangle with men in overalls wielding buzzsaws and 2 ton trucks, am I right?  I gave no address, either. (As it happens, I was living across the street at 2965 Waverly, an apartment building that was ruined in 2018 by Taylor Equities. All 30 units were evicted or displaced. It’s now a public disgrace to housing in Los Angeles.)

Remember that horror movie, “I Know What You Did Last Summer”? One of the chief inspectors at B&S wrote that to me in an email when I started to report the code violations at 2980 Waverly Drive. More precisely, he threatened:

“I imagine you have a good view from your place across the street.”

I immediately called Councilman LaBonge and Mayor Garcetti’s office to say I was being stalked. I also told him the same. He apologized profusely, and I chose not to pursue the matter. However, later a neighbor 2 doors down told me that he had also complained about the construction, was assured that he would be anonymous, and yet apparently Building and Safety squealed on him, because the contractor at 2980 Waverly came over and knocked on his door!! Do some builders follow best practices of the FBI?

(I got another threat from B&S in 2018 when Taylor Equities was tearing apart our building without permits. This inspector said, “We all know your name, Ms Barstow, from the top to the bottom.” This could be a sound bite for a horror movie, too, couldn’t it?!)

Get a permit before Code Enforcement Bangs on your Door!

But these threats shouldn’t stop you from complaining to Building and Safety! For every building project, B&S keeps a record of written complaints. These are important! They stay with the project, and no contractor or builder wants them on the property record for buyers, the curious, or even the media to find later. As I found out later, in 2013 they did NOT add my complaints, which truly points to corruption in B&S. ;(

Here’s what B&S does hand out like candy: retroactive permits.These won’t help future homeowners, tenants, or neighbors. They only benefit the shifty contactors. I tried many times to get an exact number of how many are issued each year. Mr. Steinbach told me “very few”. Hmmm.

Retroactive permits = No Accountability. So earthquake and fire safety and even long term stability is up for grabs.

Resources: Who to call about noise and construction problems

Obviously, it’s not just this particular rehabber, Reinhabit,  taking advantage of the city – and the neighborhood. I am actually hopeful that most construction companies act honestly and ethically. They don’t cut corners and hide their activities. Right?

They have tools, YOU have tools! Use them wisely.

Here is a checklist in approximate order of who to call to complain.

Who to call first:

Contractor. Contractor. Contractor.

First, get the property address and enter it here: Permit & Inspection Report

The 2nd tab down is Permit Information Found. Click the Application/Permit. There may be a lot of permits or just one. There you will find the name of the contractor (yay)!, possibly an architect or owner or engineer, and at least one B&S inspector, who, as I said previously, has a phone that only works one hour a day. :)

Noise:Ask the Contractor about. 41.40 LAMC Read it.Use this ordinance to first inform yourself, and then notice the hours of the workers. Once you quote this to the Contractor, he or she knows you know what you’re doing, so it should be smooth sailing.

There is also an Apple app to measure sound!  Since the city measures sound for a Nuisance, you can, too.

Special treat for renters: Of course, the noise law is for you, too. But 2 paragraphs above it is your right to peaceful enjoyment of your home. This is included in all important tenant actions, so keep it on hand!

If things get worse, or you suspect code violations such as height, property encroachment, illegal parking, noxious fumes, etc…

Complain to Building and Safety– How to Report a Violation

Not only is B&S obligated to suss out each complaint, it also starts a paper trail, if you need it. Copy the complaint number they give you, and if things get worse, you can give this to your Councilmember or even your Neighborhood Council.

And, of course, you might want to call other City Depts: Dept of Transportation, Parking enforcement, Street Services, LAPD, Public Works, Bureau of Engineering,

Or Ghostbusters.

Any questions? Ask below!

Hello, boys. I’m ba-a-a-c-k-k!

Donna Barstow has lived in Silver Lake and Los Feliz for over 25 years. She was part of the PROS Committee in Griffith Park Neighborhood Council and is on the Housing & Tenants Rights Committee in the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.

Jill Stewart released my secret weapon on how I fight City Hall! in the LA Weekly. I also wrote about coyotes for them!