“The Henry Ford of Evictions”

The Los Angeles Times profiles a lawyer who specializes in representing Los Angeles landlords: In a DVD he gives to landlords, Block describes himself this way: “A man who has evicted more tenants than any other human being on the planet Earth.” […] That’s where Block comes in. He has dedicated his considerable creativity and […]

The Los Angeles Times profiles a lawyer who specializes in representing Los Angeles landlords:

In a DVD he gives to landlords, Block describes himself this way: “A man who has evicted more tenants than any other human being on the planet Earth.”

[…]

That’s where Block comes in. He has dedicated his considerable creativity and intelligence to helping landlords evict tenants from rent-stabilized buildings. He boasts that his firm has filed more than 130,000 cases since 1980, a year after rent stabilization went into effect. He helps landlords identify minor violations — a pet fish in an aquarium, a brightly painted bathroom, an extra occupant — to toss out long-term tenants who are paying below market for their homes.

Because L.A.’s rent stabilization laws prohibit landlords from raising rents anywhere near market value until a tenant vacates the apartment, and the only way to force a tenant to vacate is to evict them based on “good cause,” Dennis Block can make a living filing 5,000 eviction cases a year. Rent control as full employment for lawyers.

3 Comments

  • Now, he could be principled and still do this, since he’s actually helping correct the market from totalitarian intervention.

    The only way it would pose an ethical problem is if he now votes in favor of rent control …

  • I agree, the lawyer is not the unethical party in this (which feels rather weird to say), but it’s still a great example of the ongoing outrage that is our legal system.

  • Hey, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If the city creates through regulation an economic system that results economic self-help, they either wake up with deteriorating housing stock or over-crowded housing courts.

    A fine example of the law of unintended consequences.