Major construction by the Irvine Company in an occupied building

cyberwoman

New member
Irvine Company property is performing major construction in a fully occupied building, potentially placing residents in danger. They ask that you do not occupy the building during certain times of the day for a period of 7-9 months which by itself qualifies as constructive eviction, however my major concern is tenants safety. The construction is deemed property reinvestment and is not to cure a major defect that would affect the habitability of the building. Local property management either stonewalls you or simply provides you with misinformation which while ethically questionable is not against the law. Basically they have figured out how they are going to collect rent while rebuilding the property without having to bear the cost of relocating people. The building permit they have also has issues as its missing an element of review by the fire marshal and it involves disassembling walkways that are common paths of egress.

Are there any attorney one can recommend who would be interested in a potential class action lawsuit involving 200-300 affected residents?
 
cyberwoman said:
Irvine Company property is performing major construction in a fully occupied building, potentially placing residents in danger. They ask that you do not occupy the building during certain times of the day for a period of 7-9 months which by itself qualifies as constructive eviction, however my major concern is tenants safety. The construction is deemed property reinvestment and is not to cure a major defect that would affect the habitability of the building. Local property management either stonewalls you or simply provides you with misinformation which while ethically questionable is not against the law. Basically they have figured out how they are going to collect rent while rebuilding the property without having to bear the cost of relocating people. The building permit they have also has issues as its missing an element of review by the fire marshal and it involves disassembling walkways that are common paths of egress.

Are there any attorney one can recommend who would be interested in a potential class action lawsuit involving 200-300 affected residents?

Which complex are you referring to?
 
I lived about 4 months going through a major renovation in one of the Irvine Company apartments while we were waiting for our house to be completed.
Yes.  That was very inconvenient and safety and health hazard (fumes, dust, paint, etc.).  They will give you 60%+ discount on the rent during that time.  However, there is a very slim chance that they might relocate you if you complain excessively.

btw, they do this all the time to update all the apartments so Irvine Company has probably the legal/liability side taken care of.
 
I am sure it has been bean counted, however I would not be so sure it is entirely legal. The Irvine Company is betting on tenants ignorance. They offered me a "deal" that they will "let me out" of the lease agreement without penalty. I almost laughed out loud, the noise, barrier to access to the property constitutes for constructive eviction and the minimum I can get is for them to pay me to relocate but they were betting on my ignorance and accept the "deal". I also did some research and the permit is not entirely transparent either and when I started asking questions about it at City Hall the people involved with issuing the permit appeared to be very nervous. The scope of work involves "refinishing balconies", however they forgot to mention that they also consider walkways leading to the apartment entrances "internal balconies", even though they are egress ways so the project did not require fire marshal review and approval. I had a talk with the person in charge of the project to discuss the scope and the dangers involved with the construction and his response was: sure there are dangers but rest assured we are well insured and so are the contractors who will be performing the job. We need an attorney.
 
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