San Jose Mobile Home & RV Park residents are fighting back against a landlord who they claim is retaliating against them for standing up for their rights.
The residents allege property owner Monte Christo Communities has pressured them to sign new leases, written them up for small infractions and violated their personal space to take pictures of items on their property. Residents also allege Monte Christo Communities, which purchased the property in 2019 and manages it, has targeted individuals who are part of an association formed by resident Maria Munoz.
“I’ve been targeted so many times, so many times. We are under a lot of stress,” Munoz, founder and vice president of the resident association, told San José Spotlight.
Munoz moved to San Jose Mobile Home & RV Park 10 years ago. She initially felt relieved to pay a monthly space rent of about $600 instead of spending thousands of dollars on an apartment. Her solace drained once the new ownership took over, putting her in distress, she said.
After she refused to sign a new lease, she started to receive seven-day notices — including one in January for feeding stray kittens and having stray pets around, according to a notice seen by San José Spotlight.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like this, but I hate to see injustice so I have to speak up,” Munoz said.
After a resident receives three notices in one year, management will typically seek legal counsel or start the eviction process.
Resident Alma Bailon has received three seven-day notices regarding her car port since she joined the mobile home park’s resident association earlier this year. Photo by Joyce Chu.
Hit with notices
Since Alma Bailon, 63, joined the resident association in March, she’s been hit with three seven-day notices regarding her car port. Management is requiring her to remove all homemade structures, according to notices reviewed by San José Spotlight.
Bailon, who has lived in the park for nearly two decades, is terrified that she will be forced to leave.
“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, my hair is falling out and now I’m going to be taking medication for depression,” Bailon told San José Spotlight through a Spanish speaking translator. “I have been living here for 19 years and never had issues with anyone. After they saw me sitting here, it’s been pressure, notice after notice.”
Brock Kaveny, owner of Monte Cristo Communities, said seven-day notices are given to ensure residents comply with the rules. He said management is not aware of which residents are association members other than the person who heads it.
“We do not track or have any record, or have any need to have any record (of association members),” Kaveny told San José Spotlight. “If residents violate rules and regulations … that creates a health and safety issue.”
Multiple members of the association have emailed management over the years to document their various complaints, according to letters reviewed by this news outlet.
Residents said management has been putting pressure on them to leave in order to raise the rent on their spaces. Most of the residents in the association pay $700 a month for space rent, plus utilities. A new space rent is listed in San Jose for nearly $1,500 a month on Monte Cristo Communities’ website.
Bailon’s eyes swell with tears as she shares she’d be homeless if evicted. Due to her leg injury, she can’t stand for long periods of time and can’t work. Her husband brings home a meager salary as a janitor. Their mobile home is the only way they can live in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.
Rafael Lopez, president of the resident association, said nearly everyone in the association has been hit with violations over small things. There are 18 people in the association, and the mobile home park consists of 81 spaces.
“The retaliation is clear,” Lopez, a resident of 22 years, told San José Spotlight through a translator. “For us who participate in these meetings, we’ll get seven-day notices.”
A spokesperson for Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, whose District 3 encompasses the park, said his office has been in touch with residents at the park, but was unaware of the alleged retaliation.
“We’re currently following up with the residents because Councilmember Tordillos supports their ability to form associations without retaliation,” spokesperson Elizabeth Barcelos told San José Spotlight.
Maria Munoz (left) formed the resident association to organize around issues in the East San Jose mobile home park after Monte Christo Communities took over in 2019. Other residents who have joined the association said they have been targeted with notices. Photo by Joyce Chu.
Questionable leases
The mobile park residents said they’ve been pressured to sign new leases, and certain practices have raised eyebrows among them.
Once Monte Christo Communities took over, one resident named Melania Cervantes received and signed two leases on Aug. 1, 2019. One lease was significantly higher than the other, according to copies seen by San José Spotlight.
One lease shows the base rent would be $705.65 — what she paid prior to the new ownership, according to residents with knowledge of her situation. The lease included an agreement to bump her rent by nearly $500, to $1,205 a month the next year. Rent would then increase every year following that by 5.5% annually for a 25-year term.
On the other lease, the base rent started at $1,150. Cervantes had three choices on the terms — 25 years with an increase of 5.5% annually, 20 years with an increase of 6.5% annually or 15 years with a 7% yearly increase. She chose the 25-year term.
The lease shows Kaveny’s signature next to Cervantes’ for managerial approval.
The drastic bump in Cervantes’ monthly space rent caused her to fall behind on rent, which court documents show led to an eviction last year. In her response to her court case, she wrote that she was always on time with payments until the new owner increased her rent space.
“I have gone days with out food to pay rent so much that I had problems with my (health) … I just eat rice and beans,” she wrote. “I never had any problem until August 1, 2019 when the owner Brock Kaveny called me in the office to talk about my contract which I don’t even know what or how to go about a contract because I never made one.”
Cervantes is now living out of a garage, according to residents familiar with her situation. She could not be reached for comment.
Kaveny said he does not remember why Cervantes signed two leases. He recalled she was just moving in and space rent at that time was $1,200. Kaveny said it’s possible that he had worked out a deal with Cervantes to reduce her rent to $705.65, and then increase it to $1,200 the following year.
However, Cervantes has been living in the park since she was a teenager, according to her written statement. Residents said she had never moved locations, even when Kaveny’s company took over.
Even though San Jose has a mobile home rent control policy that caps increases to between 3% to 7% depending on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), one way park owners have gotten around the policy is by having residents sign a long-term lease, according to San Jose Housing Commissioner Dan Finn. Most years the CPI has been nearly 3%, Finn said.
Long-term leases were exempt from rent control protection until 2021, when a state law banning this practice took effect.
“It’s a very sneaky way that landlords end up getting over on their people. It’s very unfortunate,” Finn, who represents mobile home residents on the city’s Housing Commission, told San José Spotlight. “I’ve never heard of someone signing two leases.”
Mobile homes are some of the last affordable housing options available in San Jose, providing older adults and low-income families with a place to call home.
“We follow the rules, we just want to live in peace,” Lopez said. “Unfortunately it’s not possible.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.