Reality TV personality Tarek El Moussa posted it on Instagram last month. posted my video Strolling the streets of North Hollywood, he told his 1.3 million followers about his new big plans.

El Moussa co-hosts a real estate show called ‘The Flipping El Moussas’ on HGTV with his wife Heather, who is also a cast member of Netflix’s Selling Sunset. El Moussa said the couple had just finished walking a nearby site where they are developing a “super cool, super modern” 138-unit apartment complex with a rooftop pool.

“We were really lucky to find this land,” El Moussa said. “Because it’s literally impossible to find land like this in North Hollywood.”

El Moussa omitted from the video why something like this was made available in the first place. Just a week ago, the current property owner was convicted in federal court of hiring someone to set fire to empty rooms on the property, which tenants said would force them to leave. It alleges it was part of a long-standing illegal harassment campaign for

The El Moussa couple are now trying to evict the remaining five tenants, all of whom are in rent control units. Residents are worried about the future of Los Angeles’ skyscraper rental market and believe they should be compensated for the disruption they experienced.

“This has been my home for 40 years,” said Kathy Rivas, 77, who lives in Dinbat Unit on $824 a month with her 56-year-old son who has special needs. “Why would you want to live somewhere else? Do you know what the rent rate is?”

Mr. Rivas and other tenants said they would agree to takeover talks, but believe the deal would well exceed the legally mandated maximum of $25,000 given that the landlord, Mr. Arthur, is retiring. said there is. The Aslanians tried to burn them out of their homes or illegally evict them.

In an investor presentation, El Moussas plans to sell the apartment complex in five years for $26 million more than it would have cost to acquire the property and build the development.

“Pay me to leave,” said Claire Rettmon, 32, who lives in the bungalow with her husband, John Paul Rodriguez, 35. that is what was done to us. “

Tarek and Heather El Moussa were not immediately available for comment. El Musas spokesman Eda Carcay said in an emailed statement that while El Musas is aware the property owner is involved in “several significant legal issues”, The property owner couple and other development partners said they would have nothing to do once the partnership with the property owners ended. The sale of real estate has ended.

“The goal is to provide adequate eviction compensation and work closely and respectfully with current residents to build safe and clean new multifamily housing, including 14 low-income units.” said in a statement.

Composed of multiple lots, the site now contains 10 bungalows, 5 Dinbat apartments and a single-family home, with 6-foot tall weeds growing next to the burnt-out building.

The horrors of living there began years ago when residents told us that the Aslanians began tearing down the walls of their units, exposing them to asbestos, mold and pests, and retaliating if they complained or demanded repairs. rice field.

In February 2022, Aslanian promised to pay someone $2,000 to set fire to the property, federal prosecutors said. Using a borrowed gas canister and hot plate, I only burned the outside of the building. Prosecutors said another co-conspirator started a second fire the following month, burning two empty bungalows.

Prosecutors said Mr Aslanian’s arson campaign was intended to evict tenants and most of the residents had fled the property. Aslanian secured approval for the new 138-unit project within months of the fire.

“These permits exist because of all that Arthur has done,” said Retmond. “The building was almost empty because of what Arthur had done.”

Mr. Aslanian was charged last month with multiple charges of conspiring with his employees to hire a hitman to kill two men, one who opposed the lawsuit and another who was an agent for a company that had gone bankrupt. In addition, he was convicted of three fire-related charges.

Arthur Aslanian stands outside his apartment complex during a fire in 2022.

(Hartock Tenant Association)

Retmon and Rodriguez’s rent is $1,650 a month, but they have stopped paying after refusing to give money to the landlord who set the house on fire.

Some former tenants sued Aslanian over the terms of the property and received a settlement for an undisclosed amount. The current tenant has a lawsuit pending against him.

However, the situation at the facility remains dire. The burnt-out bungalows are boarded up and residents say they are still unsafe. The empty unit within the pictogram has a broken window. Overgrown trees next to our unit in Rivas.

A new development group called NoHo 138, which includes El Moussas, took over the project earlier this year. Representatives of the developer, although not El Moussas, met with tenants in the winter. Mr. and Mrs. El Moussa began promoting their apartment plans to investors.

of Video posted on YouTube in MayTarek El Moussa, whose first real estate reality show was “Flip or Flop,” was standing outside his property touting it as “my biggest flip ever.”

“I’m more excited about this than anything I’ve ever done in my life,” El Moussa said.

The tenant received an eviction notice in late June. As the El Moussa family step up their investment campaign, they are becoming more vigilant.

The El Moussa couple used fire emojis on Instagram to advertise opportunities for development, which Retmon and Rodriguez said were insensitive given the arson. Tarek El Moussa said construction would begin “in the coming months”. Under the law, residents over the age of 62 can stay in apartments for a year before being evicted.

“I don’t have my year left until next June, so I don’t know how they’re going to grow here with me,” Rivas said.

El Musas spokesman Karkay said Tarek filmed a video promising an early construction start before learning the full extent of the situation with Aslanian and the tenants, and said the developer would comply with all provisions of the eviction law. She added that El Moussa had no intention of using the fire emoji.

Home improvement specialist Tarek El Moussa inspects a property for one of his reality shows.

(HGTV)

“Anyone who follows Tarek knows he likes using emojis on social media,” Kalkay said in an email to The Times. rice field. “He never hinted at or mocked Tennant’s past experience with sellers.”

Retmon and Rodriguez are trying to track the promotion of El Musas. They said they hated watching the couple talk about expensive vacations and advertise that investors would receive invitations to special yacht parties.

“It’s an insult when you know he’s spending the summer in the Hamptons and Cabo and can’t make time for tenants who are having the ‘biggest turning point of their lives’ with their evictions,” said Retmond. Told.

Retmon and Rodriguez also began posting about their plight on social media, tagging El Moussa on Instagram and asking to meet in person.

In a direct message Rodriguez shared with The Times on July 12, El Moussa responded: “You’re really smart… keep pissing off those who try to help you.”

Mr Kalkai said it was Mr El Moussa who was being harassed.

“Despite disturbing personal attacks sent to Tarek El Moussa and his family via social media DMs, he remains sensitive to Tennant’s situation,” she said.

Kalkei added that other development partners plan to continue contact with Tennant and have already reached out to Tennant’s attorneys in hopes of continuing negotiations on Tenant’s exit.

“While Tarek’s role will be to work on other areas of the transaction, as only one of the partners comprising NoHo 138, the appropriate personnel to manage this area will meet with all tenants,” Kalkei said. said.