City Attorney’s Office Obtains Victories for Disabled Veteran Voucher Holders and Affordable Housing Tenants, and Files Case Alleging Harassment of Long-Term Rent Controlled[...]

October 27, 2026 3:01 PM

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Oct. 27, 2026) - The Santa Monica City Attorney's Office has obtained key court rulings in two housing protection lawsuits and filed a new tenant harassment lawsuit, all part of the office's program to protect and enforce tenant rights in the city.

In City v. Lawrence Lee Boydston, Case No. 25SMSCV04269, the city alleged that that the defendant landlord had discriminated against two senior veterans by refusing to accept their Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing "VASH" vouchers and denying their request to install a chair lift as a reasonable modification. The Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bradley S. Phillips has signed a stipulated judgment and injunction against the defendant landlord, requiring the landlord to accept the tenants' voucher and to permit installation of a chair lift to accommodate their disabilities.

Under the terms of the stipulated judgment, the Defendant must do all of the following:    

• Accept the tenants' VASH voucher and accept housing vouchers from any existing tenant or qualified applicant  
• Comply with all terms of the voucher program, including filling out, signing, and returning all necessary paperwork  
• Permit installation of the motorized or automatic chairlift to allow the tenants to safely go up and down the stairs in their apartment  
• Adopt a city-approved written Fair Housing Policy for his rental properties, including how to respond to applicants or tenants receiving rental assistance or who have housing vouchers  
• Attend a city-approved property management training
• Obey the city's Housing Anti-Discrimination Ordinance  
• Pay a monetary penalty to the city

"The city's proactive enforcement of 'source of income' nondiscrimination law, which includes the obligation to accept VASH vouchers, Section 8 vouchers, and other sources of income and rental assistance, ensures that voucher nondiscrimination is not just an on-paper right, but a real tool to provide quality housing to families of all backgrounds and financial circumstances," Santa Monica City Attorney Heidi von Tongeln said. "It's one of the reasons why Santa Monica is a leader when it comes to households using vouchers finding homes in high resource, high-opportunity areas."  

In City of Santa Monica v. Chiang Juei Sung, Appellate Case Nos. B336881, B338716, Superior Court Case No. SC129850, California Court of Appeals issued a decision upholding a trial court decision in favor of the city of Santa Monica and against the owner of an affordable rental unit who attempted to evict a low-income tenant and invalidate affordable rent requirements that apply to her unit through a recorded affordable housing deed restriction. The opinion confirms that the deed restrictions applicable to all 15 first-floor units at the Dorchester Condominium project (Units 101 through 115) located at 1034-1050 4th St. in Santa Monica prohibit owner occupancy of the unit and require the owner to rent the unit to non-family qualifying low-income tenants. The court ruled that the restrictions apply for as long as the Dorchester condominiums are used for residential habitation.  

In addition, the Court of Appeals upheld an award of $144,000 in attorneys' fees to be paid by the landlord, to cover the more than five years of work by Gary Rhoades, the lead Santa Monica deputy city attorney on the case until his retirement in September 2023. The city has filed a motion to recover additional attorneys' fees for its work on the appeal and will demand postjudgment interest for the initial award.

"With rent control limited to units constructed before 1979, the city's Below Market Housing Program is a vital and increasingly important part of the city's mission to prevent and reduce homelessness and meet the housing needs of all its residents," Deputy City Attorney Jonathan Erwin-Frank said. "The city enforces below market housing affordability requirements just as it actively enforces rent control and anti-harassment protections." 

Finally, in the city's recently filed lawsuit, City v. Kevan Tschekaloff, et al., Case No. 26SMCV03615, the city filed a lawsuit against the owners and managers of a six-unit rent-controlled property on Harvard Street, alleging a pattern of tenant harassment, retaliation, and failure to maintain safe and habitable living conditions.  

The lawsuit names Kevan Tschekaloff, Caley Tschekaloff, and Diane Tschekaloff, individually and as trustee of the Diane Tschekaloff Inter Vivos Trust, as defendants. The city alleges that the defendants repeatedly targeted long-term, rent-controlled tenants - some elderly, all with decades of tenancy - with conduct intended to pressure them into surrendering their homes.    According to the complaint, the Defendants' conduct included: 

• Conducting invasive surveillance, with cameras aimed at private windows and entrances. 
• Sending threatening and coercive communications, including baseless demands that tenants vacate within 30 days under threat of police involvement. 
• Retaliating following reports to government agencies, including padlocking access to the shared courtyard, blocking tenant vehicles, and posting defamatory statements on social media.  
• Failing to correct serious habitability violations, including a prolonged lack of hot water, collapsing ceilings, mold, and other disrepair noted by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and Santa Monica Code Enforcement Division. 
• Attempting to force tenants to sign new leases that would strip away their longstanding tenant rights, despite the tenants being under no obligation to enter into such agreements. 

The city's lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting further tenant harassment; appointment of a qualified third-party property manager; restoration of all removed housing services and amenities; completion of all repairs ordered by the Public Health Department, Code Enforcement, and the Rent Control Board; and removal or relocation of surveillance equipment pointed at private areas. The city also seeks civil penalties and statutory damages, including enhanced penalties for conduct directed at elderly tenants, as well as punitive damages, attorneys' fees, investigative costs, and all other relief permitted by law. 

"The allegations in this case describe conduct that falls far short of the legal obligations every landlord in Santa Monica must comply with," City Attorney Heidi von Tongeln said. "When property owners disregard tenant rights, ignore habitability requirements, or attempt to push long-term residents from their homes through unlawful means, our office will act decisively to hold them accountable." 

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