Owner asks residents to pay rent on time after spending more
than $100,000 on repairs at Velladao Mobile Home Park
By Betsy Avelar and Serdar Tumgoren
Staff Writers
Gilroy – The prospect of jail time and hefty fines for the owner of a south Gilroy trailer park have sparked major changes at the site: roads are paved, sewers are fixed, and Eucalyptus branches that once hung dangerously close to power lines have been trimmed.
Now, after avoiding state-imposed penalties and spending more than $100,000 on upgrades at Velladao Mobile Home Park, owner Thomas Velladao is demanding that tenants live up to their obligations.
“I recently held a noticed tenant meeting and explained to the tenants that I have incurred substantial costs in upgrading the park facilities,” Velladao said, “and accordingly I would ask them to meet their obligations to pay the contractual rent balance on time, i.e., within five days of the end of any month.”
Failure to pay rent within the five-day grace period carries a $50 penalty, Velladao explained to tenants during a recent meeting. The fee could be a substantial hit in the wallet for two dozen low-income families who pay roughly $400 a month to live in the park, tucked out of view near the corner of Monterey Road and Luchessa Avenue.
A third of the tenants already pay rent two or three weeks late and several others owe rent from more than three months prior, Velladao said. He explained the changes are intended to “induce timely payment” and recoup the costs associated with collecting late rent and eviction, if necessary. So far, Velladao has not evicted any tenants.
“If we don’t pay rent on time, he will throw us out. He tries to scare us with that,” said Gloria Lopez, a 49-year-old tenant. She was upset that Velladao will not allow her to build a cover for her trailer’s roof. Without it, she worries that water will seep into her home during the upcoming rain season.
Such additions have been an ongoing source of tension between residents and park management. Earlier this summer, state housing inspectors issued a series of violations for an assortment of makeshift awnings, sheds and other illegal structures erected by residents. They warned Velladao that he would ultimately be held responsible if the structures were not removed. In late June, just days before inspectors returned, Velladao rousted numerous tenants from their homes and forced them to dismantle the structures (some of which have since been restored).
Velladao, a Marin tax accountant, recently fired the former property manager and has promised to play a more direct role in managing the park. He plans to raise rents in the spring as in past years. Though the increases are limited by state law to no more than 5 percent of base rent, Velladao hopes that over a period of 15 years the increases will help him recoup some of the costs of repairing the park.
The prospect of rent increases did not sit well with Damian Osorio, a two-year resident.
“I understand that our rent will be raised because the owner had to pay a lot of money to get the place fixed up,” said Osorio, who plans to sell his trailer and move to San Jose.
While tenants are relieved to see improvements at the park, friction has persisted between residents and park management, in part due to language barriers. Velladao brought a translator to the weekend meeting, but some tenants remained confused about the particulars of the changes.
Livia Alvarado understands she and other tenants face a new $50 penalty for late payments, but not all details are clear about the consequences.
“We don’t really understand him,” she said. “The owner knows that we do not speak English and he was speaking to us in English. He said that he would send us a letter in Spanish.”
Velladao Mobile Home Park came under heightened state scrutiny in March, after a pair of women complained to the Dispatch that a week of complaints had failed to spur park management to clean raw sewage pooling outside their trailers. Park management began cleaning up the spill a week after the women complained, the same day that city and state inspectors swarmed the site and documented dozens of health and safety violations.
Having done his part to upgrade the park to meet state requirements, Velladao said he is now asking tenants to live up to their obligations as renters. He said most tenants have already complied and handed in rent for October within the five-day grace period. A handful who owe money from months past have received 60-day notices to pay up or face eviction.
“I told people, ‘Let’s play on the same team,’ ” Velladao said. “You pay your rent and PG&E on time, and I’ll keep the park in good shape.”
