Kim vs Rancho Fullerton Update

By Staff on January 4, 2024

After multiple phone calls by Sam and Wha Kim, homeowners at Rancho Fullerton Mobile Homes Park, to the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD), which regulates the construction of mobile homes in California, an inspector contacted them for an in-person meeting with short notice. The new inspector, Nicolas, arrived at their door at 8:50 am on January 4, 2024, to discuss in person why the inspection failed and what needed to happen to comply with the code. Although an HCD Inspector Martin approved the construction of their extended California room on June 13, 2023 – a new inspector was called out to reinspect the patio enclosure on the request of park manager Andrea West, who the elderly couple says has harassed them since they moved to the park on May 26, 2022.

A park manager drove by at 9 am and asked the new inspector if everything was ok. He said, “Everything was fine,” and she drove off. At 9:10 am, park manager Andrea West drove past and asked if the inspector needed her. He again said, “Everything was fine.” She drove off.

The new inspector, Nicolas, said he was present to check on several code issues related to safety. He told Mr. Kim that the double front doors to the porch at 70 inches were four inches shorter than the code, which requires 74 inches. In addition, the oversized glass sliding window could not be used as a sliding glass door because it is not up to code height and lacks a sliding glass door handle. The remedy is to rip out the front door and replace it with a 74-inch tall door; replace the side door leading to the garden with an approved window; put a 74-inch tall door with an up-and-over staircase at the back.

The Kims have until May 5 to fix these issues. Because Mr. Kim is recovering from open heart surgery and cannot do the work himself, he is speaking with a contractor. Meanwhile, the park continues eviction proceedings against the couple, though they have never missed paying their monthly space rent. The Kims are well-liked at the park where Mr. Kim serves as HOA President. Several park residents came by during the re-inspection to lend support.

The Kims bought the home from the previous owner, Cathy Borowiec, who had similar problems with park management. She won her court case against the park but decided to sell to the Kims and move to a more pleasant environment.

In June 2022, Mr. Kim, wanting to give his wife a lovely enclosed sunroom, applied for a building permit that the park manager also signed. Due to a fixed income and because he had extensive construction experience, Mr. Kim, even at age 78, set upon building it himself. He set up his tools and brought in the necessary construction materials.

Unfortunately, Mr. Kim accidentally severed a finger, which delayed the completion of the addition. Despite a doctor’s note prohibiting Mr. Kim from continuing the project for several months, the park manager harassed the elderly couple and demanded that the construction materials stored on the side of the property be removed immediately and that construction be completed.

After Mr. Kim’s finger had healed, he completed the sunroom, which passed inspection, and cleaned up the property, but park management remained unsatisfied and took Mr. Kim and his wife to court on June 15, 2023. Translation services at the court were inadequate, and the couple could not understand what was happening. Mr. Kim says that the judge never saw his submitted time-dated photos of the completed project and the current state of the property but relied instead on photos taken earlier during the construction process that the park’s attorney introduced as recent photos. As a result, the judge ordered a list of changes the Kims had already made and further ordered them to pay the park’s attorney fees of $12,800. Mr. Kim said on the way out of court, the park’s attorney, Gregory Beam, told him he could expect an eviction notice.

The Kims re-submitted the time-stamped photos to the court and to the park’s attorney on June 28, showing the listed changes required by the court had already been made. The following month, on July 14, 2023, the Kims received a 60-day Notice to Terminate Possession, listing the same original violations (which had already been remedied) and adding on additional violations listed as “installing a railing in the carport, installing makeshift fencing around the premises, installing wooden planters, installing a bug zapper…, having overgrown plants and weeds on the premises and planting a tree.”

Cathy Borowiec, the previous lessee of the space where Kim currently leases, stated that management had tried to evict her and had relentlessly harassed her in hopes that she would sell her mobile home to them. Borowiec instead went to court, winning her wrongful eviction and harassment case against the park in October 2021. She subsequently moved out and sold the home to the Kims. She told the Observer that the Park Manager, Ms. West, was unhappy.

One local law firm stepped up to try and negotiate a fair settlement for the Kims. Recently, the Kims began working with OC Legal Aid.

Meanwhile, Rancho Fullerton owner Susan James, park manager Andrea West, and Vickie Talley, who works with mobile home parks seeking to convert from “Senior” to “All-Age” designation, came to the Fullerton City Council’s December 19 meeting. Converting is a tactic popular amongst investment park owners, allowing parks to double space rent or completely clear the land for another use.

The issue was brought to Fullerton Council by the actions of investor park owner John Saunders in his attempt to convert Rancho La Paz Mobilehome Park on the other side of town to an all-ages park. This would end all rent subsidies to seniors in that park. Since an ordinance preventing the conversion of a senior park to an all-ages park had to cover all senior parks in town, Rancho Fullerton was also included. However, Rancho Fullerton park owner Susan James and manager Andrea West claimed they had no intention of converting the park. They both spoke against the ordinance.