A 102-year-old woman is being evicted after nearly 30 years. It's legal in L.A. County

[CousinIT]

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-woman-evicted-20190523-story.html

A 102-year-old woman is being evicted from her longtime residence in unincorporated Ladera Heights so the landlord’s daughter can move in instead, according to an eviction notice the woman received.

Thelma Smith was given notice on March 8 that she must vacate the single-family home where she has resided for nearly 30 years.

Her landlords said they were ending Smith’s month-to-month lease because their daughter is graduating from law school.

The dwelling is needed as her principal place of residence,” the notice said.

They gave the centenarian three months to get out.
. . .

“It’s pretty outrageous and heartless to be evicting this woman,” Gross said. “It just shows a perfect example of how tenants without strong rent-controlled protections are vulnerable to displacement and injustices.”

Smith, a former executive secretary for the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation, a nonprofit that has served underprivileged youths, recently celebrated her birthday in the home where she’s spent three decades.

The celebration may be her last there. She has until June 30 to vacate the property, her landlords say.

[marybourg]

1. Yeah, that's one of the big downsides to renting.

You don’t own a single family house by dint of having paid rent on it, and the owner’s needs come first. This would be the same even in highly tenant-centered NYC under these same facts.

[leftstreet]

2. Living on her own at 102? That's amazing

She must be pretty healthy

Without seriously expensive in-home care, most people that age have to be in care centers

[LakeArenal]

3. Yeah it's not that she won't find a new place...

It’s the callousness. That’s her “place”..

Hope someone steps up with a lovely new place. It just won’t be the same.

[SoCalNative]

4. Not so easy to find new places in L.A.

the rents are astronomical and just keep going up.

[LakeArenal]

5. That's why I hoped someone steps up.

[pnwest]

6. I'm gonna get flamed for this - but -

she’s renting month to month. Anyone renting knows this exact situation can happen. PLUS, they’ve given her three months notice which seems pretty nice to me. Plenty of time to find new digs and make arrangements. Just because she’s 102 makes the homeowner heartless? Is it their responsibility to keep her in that home until she dies? At what age does that consideration begin, cause I will go set myself up in that situation post-haste.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t feel badly for the tenant - having to move from your home of 30 years, at that age, will be difficult and jarring. I get that! But the homeowner is not automatically an ogre because the tenant is 102, and they are following the laws of rentership in their state.

[MineralMan]

7. Well, I wouldn't do it, nor would I move

In it if I were that daughter. "I can wait, for Pete's sake,," I'd say.

[hunter]

8. I guess the landlord's daughter wants to firmly establish her credentials as an asshole lawyer.

Evicting a 102 year old woman will look good on her resume.

[UniteFightBack]

9. Nobody cares about tenants....no matter who they are. They just pay the mortgage and then you can

dispose of them when you wish.