Todd Cochran review: Scumlord 1

Breakdown of the complaint by esther chung with the owner’s responses.
Tenant:
This [censor] is trying to charge me $4000 to repair wall mouldings, 2 window sill, replace curtains, a screen, and a time warner remote. does that sound like a right estimate? I asked a contractor myself and he said the [censor] was freakin crazy for that amount.

Response:
No... I billed a little over 1000.00

Tenant:
I know he has had 15 people living in the house when I lived there and had to share my bathroom with 4 people at once,

Response:
The home has 10 bedrooms and 4 baths. one of the 4 people she shared the bath with one was her live-in boyfriend and two other single room occupants shared her bath. it was that way when she moved in.

Tenant:
A guy who threatened to beat me up while i'm 6 months pregnant, and a sleeze ball who can't pick up after himself if his life depended on it/racist, and had a guy who peed on the floor... oh god it goes on.

Response:
It was all the same person, not different individuals. I came over at 3am and kicked him out the next day. also, I can only respond to problems as best as possible. the police came to the house for this and they decided that the other tenant involved had not made a threat. I made him move out anyway. what else was I supposed to do?

Tenant:
He had converted the garage to hold 1 washer 2 dryers, a bathroom, and 2 small bedrooms. he build a connecting hallway from what used to be the outlet from the kitchen to the backyard. that door is next to a bathroom... there is a window to that bathroom and now that there is a wall built what the heck is the point of the window? it just stinks up the whole house and the garage. gross.

Response:
Everything in the house is up to code, permitted, inspected and approved. this can be verified at the building and safety website which tracks every permit in los angeles. the window is sealed shut and there is no oder. the bathroom she is talking about is actually not in her part of the house and she was never supposed to use it. it is assigned to other rooms. who's grasping at straws here?

Tenant:
I think this guy might be holding out on the irs too. seeing how money hungry he is. i'm not the first person he's tried to get a ridiculous amount from.

Response:
I am a real estate investor and this is a rental property. I give receipts for every penny paid and I file my taxes every year without fail.

In conclusion: my property was beautiful and well maintained with a maid and yard man that cleaned and maintained it every week. all the construction was done to code and I kept the property in top condition. it has been upgraded to 200 amp electrical, has all new paint, hardwood floors, sprinkler systems and two hot water heaters. while not everyone stays forever. I have never had a tenant leave because they wanted to. always it has been because they could not pay their rent or I have asked them to leave for non-compliance with house rules. esther chung and christian upton lived in room 3 under a month to month rental agreement with a required 30 days’ notice to terminate. she got pregnant and quit her job which left them unable to afford the 700/mo. rent.

If I was so bad and so greedy and if my house was so terrible to live in... why did they continually pay rent for 13 months without any complaints the entire time? they could have moved out with 30 days’ notice any time…but they didn't. only when they ran out of money did I become the "bad guy" and the house become a dump.

This is the actual demand for payment invoice that was served on christian upton (boyfriend) at his part time place of employment. where they get this claim of thousands of dollars, I will never know.
The truth is this:
They moved out in the middle of the night the day after rent was due.
I called them several times and only with threats of civil action did they respond.
When they responded... they acted like it was no big deal. they ultimately did return the keys but that was weeks after I had replaced the locks.
They allowed their pet rats to chew up the window frame, the curtains, the remote, the screens and the top shelf in the closet.
I was told that they "weren't going to pay anything" and then they hung up.
I hired a handyman to make all the repairs.
The contractor friend of hers showed up 4 days after she said they were not paying for or repairing anything. the work was already completed as I am not in the business of letting things wait and they still owe this invoice:

Esther chung and christian upton room 3
Tenants moved without (30 days) required notice. 1/31/2009
Rent 02/01/2009 = $700.00 less $500.00 deposit $200.00
Utilities 02/15/2009 ($ 69.76 x 2)...$139.52

Bed bath & beyond curtains - 2 small...$75.75
Bed bath & beyond curtains - 2 large...$86.58
The home depot...$43.15
Handy man ($120.00 a day x 2 days)...$240.00
Utilities 03/15/2009 ($ 70.00 x 2)...$140.00
Keys - 1 set * or you may return the key...$100.00
Remote control...$20.00
Total... $1, 045.00

I have successfully rented the room to credible people and am very happy to be done with them. she beat on her boyfriend who confessed to me prior to their abandoning the lease that he "never wanted to marry her" and the "she was crazy and physically abusive". he said, "she trapped me, dude". he also doubted the baby was his. the only reason I did not sue them was because they could never pay the judgement. good riddance to bad rubbish.
Update: esther chung lost custody of her baby for being unfit. it only stands to reason that when you are angry, irresponsible, using drugs and out of control, you are not exhibiting that behavior in just one area of your life. esther is a sad unhappy woman who understandably need help. she lies about things in her life because she can't accept responsibility for the way things are not working out. I feel sad for the child.

The house was sold on may 9, 2014 and I have no connection or interest in the property. it does not seem to deter [censor] who are dissatisfied with the current management from naming me in their complaints even though we have never met and have no rental agreements.

I have nothing to hide and am very proud of the rooms I provide.
If there is a complaint to be had, I am the injured party. forums like this are nothing more than internet billboards; libelous and vindictive. the owners of this and similar sites swim in a legal grey area, misusing constitutional protections for a profit.

Thanks,
Andrew todd cochran – former owner