Oakland sues apartment building landlord, alleging years of neglect, unsanitary conditions

Last summer, both elevators inside Oakland's La Peralta apartment building were out of service for 52 straight days.

Now, the City of Oakland is suing the property owner, Mosser Living, alleging elderly and disabled tenants were left stranded in their homes and that the prolonged elevator outage was part of a much broader pattern of neglect.

The lawsuit, led by City Attorney Ryan Richardson, also alleges pest infestations, security problems, and unrepaired fire, water, and structural damage inside the 98-unit building.

"The health and safety ramifications of this elevator were immediate to us, in addition to just the quality of life and dignity issues it presents," Richardson said.

A tenant we spoke with, who wanted to remain anonymous, has lived here since 2010 and took us on a tour to see the conditions firsthand. We started in the basement laundry room, where he says the elevator outage made getting down here a nightmare for him and impossible for some of his neighbors.

"And one of the biggest issues with the laundry room is a lot of the machines don't work," the tenant said. "So you throw your money in, it doesn't work and you never get your money back."

Another major issue is water damage. He says for several months, water was dripping down his walls, ruining clothes and shoes, and even the camera equipment he uses for his job.

"I am a shooter as well and it just ruined that, too," he said. "And I am hitting them up, like, 'hey, this ruined a bunch of stuff,' and they are, like, 'Hey, nothing we can do.'"

Then he took us to the garbage area, which is kept in its own basement area. He says when it gets hot, the smell takes over the building. He even showed us a hole where he says rodents have become like tenants of their own.

"These is our entrance and exit hole for rats," he said. "This is where they come in and have a field day with the garbage and get their eat on."

Then, he took us to the now-infamous elevators.

"I'm always afraid to get stuck in here."

As we rode up, you can hear some strange noises, something that leaves people like the tenant's daughter afraid to ride them at all.

"You hear that scraping?! That's not normal," he said.

Richardson says the backbone of this lawsuit is tied to a 2024 ordinance that requires landlords to keep elevators working or, if they are broken, offer temporary housing to residents who can't use the stairs.

He says those requirements weren't met here and led them to discover a whole lot more.

"We heard about pest infestations that were not managed, we heard about fire damage that was never fixed, we heard about water intrusion, we heard about building security not being up to par," Richardon said.

Mosser has not come to the negotiating table just yet, but Richardson says his office is determined to fix a wrong. And after more than 15 years at La Peralta, the tenant we spoke with told us, it's about time.

"I feel like they are just not treating people well," he said. "So what's on the other end of not treating people well, is more not treating people well."

We did reach out to San Francisco-based Mosser Living for a response to these allegations, but have not heard back.

In speaking with folks who live here, they are thrilled the city is now getting involved but are hesitant to claim any kind of victory just yet.