Former Tenants Accuse City Council Candidate Robert Fox of Being a ‘Bully’ and ‘Slumlord’

Robert Fox has made a modest fortune wheeling and dealing real estate since he bought his first property in the ’90s. Today, he owns over a dozen rental units in Long Beach, many of which are located in District Two, where he currently finds himself in the midst of a contentious race for City Council against Cindy Allen, who was recently sued for fraud.

Fox listed having 16 tenants as of 2019, according to the financial disclosure form he was required to file as a candidate. He’s also the proprietor of Fox Enterprises, a cleaning and maintenance company that manages numerous properties. He says hard work and a buyer’s market helped him amass the rental properties that now make up his retirement investment.

“I ate Top Ramen 17 different ways. And I purchased properties from people who were getting older in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood area,” he said. “And inch by inch, I gathered more units together.”

Fox has been a vocal presence in Long Beach politics for decades. A renter for his first 25 years in the city, in more recent times Fox has been a fierce opponent of efforts to pass tenant protections, such as rent control and “just-cause” eviction, which would have prohibited landlords from kicking out tenants at the end of their lease without specifying a reason.

“If we get rid of the 30- and 60-day no cause notice, we might as well put a billboard up at the entrance to Long Beach [that says], ‘Criminals and Drug Dealers, welcome, we can never evict you,’” he wrote in an editorial in 2017.

While his activism may have helped stave off tenant protection laws locally, state lawmakers eventually passed a sweeping rent cap bill in 2019 that requires just-cause eviction.

Fox unsuccessfully ran for a spot on the council in 1999 and nearly ran for mayor in 2018. Yet despite his constant presence on the city’s political frontlines, we found no published media reports that investigate his rental business and treatment of tenants. With Fox once again campaigning for a seat behind the dais, it’s important for voters to know how he has conducted himself as a landlord, a position that has afforded him a degree of power over some of our neighbors.

Fox has been involved in dozens of civil suits involving tenant-landlord disputes, from unlawful detainers to small claims cases, most of which he has won. While records show that recent cases have involved judgments ranging from as little as $125 up to $3,800, documents for many of the cases have been destroyed under LA County Superior Court record retention rules.

We examined two recent civil lawsuits between Fox and his tenants for which ample records still exist. We interviewed the parties involved and looked at the evidence presented in court, as well as other documents shared with FORTHE Media by the defendants and plaintiffs.

The two former tenants who faced off against Fox in court said his failure to make timely repairs went so far as to put their health and safety at risk. Fox denies these accusations and says these cases represent problematic tenants, who make up a small minority of his renters.

“Probably 99% of my tenants have been great. I’ve been in the business for a really long time,” he said.

We asked Fox on multiple occasions to refer us to a tenant of his who he believed could better attest to his conduct as a landlord, but he never did.

‘IT WASN’T HABITABLE’

Michele Ayache says she and her children spent the winter of 2017 in a cold, damp apartment in Long Beach’s Zaferia neighborhood. The century-old home lacked a working heater and had waterlogged walls that became a breeding ground for mold, among other habitability issues, according to the single mother. As a result, her three toddler-age children suffered from ear infections and constant asthma flare-ups during their time there.

“The walls were pasty. You could push your fingers through them,” she said. 

Ayache says she repeatedly inquired with Fox, who was managing the property, via phone calls and emails about repairs, but it fell on deaf ears.

She says while her family shivered in the drafty apartment, Fox was often found thousands of miles away in Hawaii, where he owns multiple properties, including a vacation home.

“You don’t have enough employees to cover for you when you take a trip to Hawaii or Europe every other week,” Ayache later wrote to Fox in a July 23, 2018 correspondence she provided to us.

A county social worker wrote in a sworn affidavit filed in court that the unit had several health and safety violations, including windows that were “jammed shut and painted over,” “water damage throughout the exterior/interior lining of walls,” and “no proper heating device.”

The statement concludes, “During several of our required monthly home visits, Ms. Ayache would constantly inform CSW (certified social worker) of her attempts to contact the landlord to address the housing violations. To no avail.” 

But Fox says these accusations are untrue. He said the moisture issues were brought on by Ayache constantly running a humidifier in the apartment.

“I did an inspection about six months before she moved out and said, ‘Michele, you’ve got to stop this humidifier thing. I mean, you’re creating a mold situation for your child. This is really not good. The windows are black,’” Fox said.

Fox also disputes the charge that the apartment’s heater was not working.

“That was bullshit. It was a completely functional heater all the time,” he said. “We don’t rent a property without heaters.”

By June 2018, Ayache says she had become fed up with the poor living conditions and found another apartment. She packed up her things and left without giving Fox a 30-day notice or paying the remainder of the last month’s rent. California law allows a tenant to leave a substandard rental without advanced notice if a landlord does not fix habitability problems within a reasonable amount of time.

“It wasn’t habitable. There were just so many things wrong with it. And I had all the pictures to show proof of that,” Ayache said.

A few days later, Fox left a voicemail on Ayache’s phone in which he said, “If you want to see me in court, I totally understand that. I do it quite often and we can hash it out that way. I’ll just bring these pictures to a judge and he’s going to determine whether that means uninhabitable or not. I don’t think one cockroach is going to make it work. I don’t think some weird plaster is going to make it work.”

Fox made good on his threat and filed a lawsuit against Ayache demanding $1,928 on behalf of the apartment’s owner, David J. Martin, for the cost to repair damages Fox accused Ayache of causing.

In a security deposit disposition report that Fox submitted to the court, he noted that the “tenant received the unit in very clean condition” and that any damage was a result of Ayache’s failure to properly maintain and clean the unit.

The document noted that there was “wet rot on casement windows” due to humidifier damage and that the tenant caused damage that necessitated the unit to be repainted.

On June 28, 2018, Fox provided Ayache with an invoice that included a $798 estimate for repair work to fix the windows. In the document, he noted that a company called “Castillo Sash and Window”—an erroneous reference to Castillo Sash and Door in Signal Hill—provided him the estimate. 

However, Ayache said she suspected the estimate had been falsified and contacted the owner of the business, who told her they had never produced the estimate for Fox.

Fox also submitted to court an invoice from “Castillo Sash and Window,” again with the incorrect name of the business in the letterhead.

We showed the document to Toni Castillo, the owner of Castillo Sash and Door, who said her company never produced the invoice.

“That’s not ours. We’ve never used anything like that,” she said. She also searched her records and found that her company has never given Fox an estimate for the building in question or done any work there.

Ayache said she felt like she was being taken advantage of when she found out that the invoice had not been issued by a real business.

“I just totally felt like he didn’t think I knew what my rights were,” said Ayache. “I was just starting off with my credit, I was just trying to build my credit. I’m a single mother. So you could really take advantage of somebody in a situation like that.”

The court initially entered a judgement for Fox, but Ayache appealed the decision and the ruling was overturned by a court commissioner.

“Defendant Michelle Ayache does not owe the plaintiffs David J. Martin; Robert E. Fox any money on plaintiff’s claim,” the court found. While Ayache was not found responsible for the damages to the apartment, the court allowed Fox and Martin to keep her security deposit to satisfy back rent.

Fox complained that the ruling was unfair because the commissioner was a judge pro tem, typically a seasoned lawyer who fills in for a judge and can hear and decide cases.

“We went before Dennis Carroll. Dennis Carroll used to be councilmember of the Fourth District. Bizarre, and I knew him. He never looked at one damn thing. I mean, what an inept,” Fox said.

He called Ayache a “con artist” and said, “I think her claims are absolutely false. I’m certainly not a greedy ass bastard landlord, that’s just stupid.”

Ayache said she was furious to hear Fox was running for council and said he’s unfit to serve as an elected official.

“Robert preyed on low-income families. He was a slumlord,” she said. “He doesn’t care who he hurts to get to the top.”

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT HABITABILITY

In November 2017, Fox rented out a furnished “Viennese style” studio apartment at 234 Lime Ave. that he described in court documents as “immaculate and impeccable” to retired school teacher Shanna, who asked that her last name not be published for fear of retaliation from the Fox campaign or his supporters.

Immediately after moving in, Shanna complained to Fox about the door lock being broken. She says she had noticed the broken lock during a walk through and had asked Fox to fix it prior to the move-in date.

“Well, he never fixed the lock. How can I live there with a broken door? It’s all wide open, it opens into the alley, very dangerous,” Shanna said.

Although Fox denied that the lock was broken in an interview, documents he provided show that the lock was eventually replaced.

“She was older, so for some reason she had difficulty with a key. Within five days of moving into that unit, I had Broadway Locks out there redoing the lock, just to be nice,” Fox said, adding that the unit’s entryway also had a working security door.

But in the intervening days, Shanna said she feared for her safety without a working lock on one of the doors, especially when the couple next door got into loud arguments. She said Fox was in Hawaii during this time, which delayed his approval of the repair.

But that was only the beginning of what would be a tumultuous relationship between Fox and Shanna.

Shanna said a week or two after moving in, she began noticing other issues with the apartment; most alarming were the red bug bites she was waking up to on her extremities.

“I am currently having to undergo treatment for insect bites, red spots on both arms, nape of my neck, chest and right leg and intense itching,” she wrote to Fox on Dec. 6, 2017. She provided us with photos showing bed bugs in different parts of the apartment.

Fox later told a judge that the bed bugs migrated from a neighboring unit, but in an interview said Shanna likely caused the infestation.

“She brought in two bags worth of we don’t know what and all of a sudden she had a bed bug problem,” Fox said. “She signed a rental agreement that said there were no bed bugs in the unit. I said, ‘Please inspect this unit.’ It’s part of our rental contracts in California.”

But Shanna disputes both of Fox’s explanations and says the apartment and the furniture within were filthy. She claims that the pots and pans stored in the kitchen were full of grease and that the bed linens were stained. She says this lack of cleanliness was the source of the bed bugs.

“He has a terrible penchant for hoarding. He goes around to dead people’s estates and garbage cans and collects whatever he can use to furnish his apartments. But he never cleans any of it,” she said. “And [he] blames the tenant for creating the mess and the dirt and forces us to clean it.”

Shanna said while she lived there, Fox used her apartment to store items such as kitchenware and power tools, at one point even putting candles in the refrigerator, all without her permission.

Fox vehemently denies those accusations and says the apartment was in pristine condition when Shanna signed the lease: “I mean it had velvet drapes I had custom made for it, had Persian carpet, a little Polonaise bed with brocade bed hangings, you know, it’s just gorgeous with granite countertops.”

A photo Robert Fox sent us purporting to have been taken before Shanna moved in was actually taken over two years prior, in May of 2015 according to EXIF data contained in the file. EXIF data refers to metadata embedded in a photo file that includes the date the photo was taken, the device it was taken with, and many other parameters.

This being the second instance we found of Fox misrepresenting the facts with falsified documents raises serious questions about how often he engages in this type of behavior during disputes with tenants.

Shanna says the bed bug issue caused her mental distress and scarring on her arms and legs, which hasn’t gone away. 

“I had to get medications for the insect bites of my arms. I had to throw out my suitcases, my clothes, my towels, my linens, all of that,” she said. “He (Fox) never reimbursed me a single penny on anything.”

Other issues Shanna said she endured were cockroaches, a leaky faucet in the kitchen where the bed was located, and no hot water during a stretch of winter.

“There were only drips of cold water coming out of it (the shower). And I lived with that for almost two weeks until the handyman came over,” she said.

In response to Shanna’s complaints, Fox wrote, “I find that when a tenant complains to such a degree within the first week of tenancy, that the tenancy will not be a happy one. This is a business to me … It is clear you are not happy with this apartment. In order to solve this problem and make us both happy, you may vacate the unit on Monday.”

He also demanded $200 in rent that Shanna had withheld due to the condition of the apartment and sent along a three-day notice to pay or quit.

Shanna ultimately paid the rent due and the two continued their relationship. Fox put Shanna up in a hotel while exterminators heat treated the apartment on Dec. 15, 2017, which according to both parties got rid of the bed bugs. 

But Shanna’s grievances continued. She says that Fox often harassed tenants with eviction notices and unannounced inspections, creating a sense of unease among residents.

“If you moved one piece of furniture from where Fox had placed it, he gives you a notice to get out. He never allowed us to move any little thing from where he put it. You’re tripping all over the place,” she said. 

This portrayal seems to clash with what Fox recalls: “After the first month, I thought everything was fine. And for many, many months she was as friendly as the day is long.”

But Shanna says she was constantly looking for a way out, but it was difficult because she doesn’t own a computer.

“He’d send us threatening notices all the time. You don’t bully your tenants, any more than I ever tolerated any bullying in the classroom,” she said. “And so I thought, well, I’m just going to start looking for another place.”

She notified Fox that she was moving out on June 30, 2018. “I will be vacating your apartment at 234 Lime Ave. the end of July or a month later. I thought I would inform you now to give you ample notice out of respect and consideration to you. I will notify you definitely as soon as I have procured another facility.”

She had asked for some flexibility with the move-out date because she was unsure whether she’d be able to find an apartment before the month was over.

“It’s very, very difficult to find a place, especially if you’re a senior citizen, it’s very hard,” she said.

In response, Fox gave her a 30-day notice to quit, which according to him, was meant to be a “confirmation” that he had received Shanna’s notice to move.

“It didn’t make sense,” Shanna said, adding that Fox later explained that he wanted to ensure she was out after one month because he didn’t want to run the risk of having a vacant unit not earning rental income.

Seven months after moving out—and after several unsuccessful attempts to reach Fox via certified mail—she filed a lawsuit against him for $9,000 worth of damages. In her complaint she accused Fox of breaching their lease agreement resulting in a “loss of health” and demanded he refund rent she paid while the apartment was not in a habitable condition.

“I averaged 60 sporadic days or two months of habitability in eight months,” she wrote in court documents.

Fox submitted to the court an email from Russell Novinshoar, who purported to be Shanna’s former landlord and who called her a “nightmare” tenant who “creates her cash flow due to the lawsuits she brings against unsuspecting landlords and others.”

Shanna denied that and says the email is misleading.

A search of LA County Superior Court records shows Shanna has filed only two other small claims lawsuits in the last 15 years, one of which was successful and resulted in a $2,339 judgment in 2006.

Ultimately, the court rejected Shanna’s claim against Fox. Shanna asked the court to grant her another hearing but the request was denied, court records show.

“She had no case at all,” said Fox. “Everything was immaculate in that unit.”

About a month after Shanna vacated the apartment, it was rented to Ian Davis.

But again, it would result in a rocky relationship with more accusations of substandard housing conditions. 

The following June, Davis filed a small claims suit against Fox alleging “harassment” and a roach infestation, an issue that Shanna had also complained about.

Four days later, Fox posted a three-day notice to pay or quit on Davis’ door. In court documents, Davis said that he believed the eviction notice had been retaliation for his complaints about cockroaches. But Fox claimed that Davis owed $1,250 in past-due rent.

In a court filing, Davis said he had “offered to pay rent” but was instead “thrown out.”

Fox also filed a counterclaim in small claims court alleging Davis had caused $1,559 in damages. He included a ledger with various cleaning costs and furniture repair estimates. In the counterclaim, Fox said that the roach infestation came about because Davis “did not maintain a clean apartment” and sought $55 in exterminator costs.

Davis did not return a call seeking comment. 

In the end, the court ruled in favor of Fox, and Davis was evicted from the apartment. In addition, he was ordered to pay Fox $2,167 in back rent and damages.

UPDATED at 8:45 p.m. 10/10/20 to reflect that EXIF data from a photo Fox provided us purportedly taken just before a tenant moved in instead shows that the photo was taken two years prior to the move-in date.