Courtesy of LIBRE
TENANTS EMPOWERING TENANTS By Briana Méndez-Padilla
Mayra Fernanda García-Cortez was home alone when she heard the knock. There was something posted on the screen door of the apartment she had been living in since she was a little girl. García’s heart sank as she read it. A 60-day notice to vacate the premises. A few months prior to this jolting announcement, García-Cortez and her family were struggling with a rat and roach infestation in their apartment–most likely stemming from their recently-moved neighbor’s unkempt apartment. When nothing was done to resolve it after submitting multiple complaints, García-Cortez and her family took matters into their own hands and called code enforcement. After finding multiple health code violations, code enforcement fined the apartment management and demanded they fumigate the unit. It took two visits from code enforcement for management to listen.
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As renters, García-Cortez and her family were within their rights to call code enforcement to ensure their concerns were addressed and their health was not put at risk. The 60-day notice, however, seemed to García-Cortez like a clear repercussion for doing so. “They were trying to use substantial remodeling as a tactic to evict us from our unit as a form of retaliation for calling code enforcement on them,” García-Cortez said. After getting in touch with local tenant advocacy group, Long Beach Residents Empowered (LIBRE), García-Cortez and her family were informed that the document they received was not a legal eviction notice and that the owner had no basis to kick them out. Before LIBRE, they were ready to self-evict - thinking it was their only option- García-Cortez and her family were then able to advocate for themselves and keep their apartment. Communications director Sylvana Uribe defines LIBRE as a “rent advocacy group that works with renters and helps them