Tenants’ Complaints Spur Offer of Support by Mayor : Housing: West Hollywood has filed charges over substandard conditions at 18 apartment buildings owned by same landlords. Residents say they can’t afford to move.

Jacquelyn Fleming is fed up with the problems in her West Hollywood apartment. The ceiling in the den is marred by ugly water spots. The bathroom tile is buckling. And the carpeting hasn’t been replaced since she moved in more than 20 years ago, she said.

“None of these problems have been addressed,” Fleming said. But the cost of finding another apartment is prohibitive, she said. “I can’t afford to move.”

So the 58-year-old nurse has joined other tenants in demanding that the city provide relief from what they claim are substandard living conditions in 18 West Hollywood apartment buildings under the same ownership. Their complaints have recently prompted West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land to send a letter to residents of 302 units.

“The city . . . is devoted to continuing to address (this) situation in whatever way possible to ensure that the rights and interests of legitimate tenants are protected,” Land wrote.

The buildings belong to Harry and Mary Drapel, a Westside couple whose extensive real estate holdings make them the largest landlords in West Hollywood, according to city officials. Many of their properties are located on the economically depressed east side of town, which has become home to many Russian immigrants and low-income minorities.

Last year, the city filed charges against the Drapels and a business associate, Hilton Kay, alleging numerous violations of city building codes, including leaky roofs and exposed electrical wiring. Kay has already pleaded guilty to several charges and received a $1,350 fine and three years’ probation. The Drapels are expected to contest the charges when the case goes before a judge this month in Beverly Hills Municipal Court.

The Drapels did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. But Kay, 42, a self-described South African investor who has sometimes acted as the Drapels’ agent, blamed the problems on vandalism by drug users, laws that protect illegal tenants from eviction and the city’s lack of cooperation with the landlords.

“I pleaded guilty, but in actual fact I’m not guilty,” said Kay, who represented himself at trial. “What I have found is that there are no owners’ rights in this country, just tenants’ and squatters’ rights,” added Kay, who is seeking to buy the buildings from the Drapels.

In addition to filing charges, the city has also taken the unusual step of hiring a special housing inspector to examine every unit in the Drapels’ buildings for potential code violations, said Brent Mullins, manager of the building and safety division of the department of community development. Mullins said the inspector should finish his work within the next week or so.

City Manager Paul Brotzman said there have been code enforcement problems at the Drapels’ buildings for at least two years. West Hollywood officials tried to force the Drapels in 1993 to make seismic upgrades on an apartment building at 1234 N. Formosa, he said, but the landlords did not comply and the building was heavily damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

City officials say that the condition of many Drapel properties has worsened in the past year as Hilton Kay and Gabe Drapel, the couple’s son, have assumed more control of the buildings.

But Gabe Drapel disagreed. “We’re trying . . . to do as best we can” with building repairs, he said in an interview. “These buildings are not new, and they didn’t hold up well in the earthquake. But we’re just talking about superficial damage.”

Records from Los Angeles superior and municipal courts show that Kay has been named as a defendant in at least 20 separate lawsuits over the past two years, most of them collection actions against him and his company, Showtech Cellular, a clothing and telecommunications exporter. Most of the suits are still pending, records show.

“The consensus (among city officials) is that a number of these buildings have been poorly maintained,” said Mark Johnson, director of West Hollywood’s Department of Rent Stabilization. The agency, which enforces some provisions of local housing ordinances, joined with the city’s Code Enforcement Department in filing criminal charges against the Drapels and Kay.

Squatters and drug dealers have taken over some of the apartments, neighbors and police allege. Brotzman said the West Hollywood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating allegations of drug activity in at least one Drapel apartment building.

Kay is in the process of buying the properties, but it is unclear whether he will be able to complete the purchase. The sale, he said, has been in escrow for almost a year.

Interviews and court records show that the Drapels have had financial problems. In January, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge appointed three separate receivers for the properties after the Drapels fell behind in mortgage payments. But in recent weeks, city officials said, some of the mortgage notes have been brought current and the Drapels have regained control.

In the meantime, some tenants have expressed fear that they will get lost in the legal and financial tangle and end up losing their homes.

Mayor Land dealt with such concerns in her March 16 letter: “Please understand that the number of buildings and apartment units and the confusing chain of events have made it very difficult to keep track of all of the developments and their impact on tenants,” Land wrote.

Many tenants remain angry and worried, however.

John Von Douris, 49, who walks with the aid of a cane, still likes the convenient location and affordability of his apartment on North Hayworth Avenue. But leaks in the kitchen ceiling and bathroom shower have made the paint buckle and, he said, have ruined electrical fixtures. Von Douris, who receives low-income housing aid, fears he and his four cats may have to move again after living in the apartment for just one year.

“I have health problems, and this is very upsetting, emotionally and financially,” he said.