Fighting an Affordable Housing Landlord’s Illegal Rent Increases and Fines

Yale Terrace Apartments is a 55-unit affordable housing building located in Los Angeles Chinatown at 716 Yale Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The building was constructed in 2007 using a mix of subsidies, including a nearly $5 million loan from the former Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (“CRA/LA”).

As part of the loan agreement, the owners agreed to a 55-year affordability covenant with the CRA/LA (now held by the City of Los Angeles). The affordability covenant requires that the units are rented to low-income tenants and limits permissible rents and annual rent increases. The current owner, 716 Yale Terrace L.P., agreed to these restrictions with the City of Los Angeles in 2020 when it purchased Yale Terrace Apartments.

In November 2024, Yale Terrace L.P. attempted to increase the rents at Yale Terrace Apartments by over 16% in violation of this agreement. Even before any rent increases, Plaintiff’s base rent of $1,999 already exceeded the covenant’s maximum allowable rent of $1,591 for a low-income household in a four-bedroom unit. While this initial increase was rescinded after months of tenant protest and Public Counsel advocacy, Yale Terrace L.P. issued another improper rent increase of almost 10% for February 2025.

On February 26, 2025, Ninsi Castelan filed an affirmative lawsuit, alleging that the February 2025 rent increase was a breach of Yale Terrace’s affordability covenant with the City of Los Angeles and that management engaged in a number of unlawful business practices, including charging tenants for routine wear and tear repairs and issuing $150 – $1000 fines for alleged building policy violations.

The lawsuit also alleges tenant harassment, including that Defendants refused to acknowledge receipt of lawful rent payments, retaliated against tenant organizing, and issued three different unlawful rent increases in six months. In addition, Defendants promised refunds for the overcharges but then withheld portions of those refunds to cover unexplained fines and fees about which Plaintiff had never been notified. The lawsuit was filed against: 716 Yale Terrace, L.P.; the property manager, Triumph Residential Services, Inc.; the administrative general partner of Yale Terrace L.P., GRCLA-Affordable Holding, LLC; and the managing general partner of Yale Terrace L.P., Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center (KHEIR).

Ninsi is represented by Public Counsel and Irell & Manella LLP.

In April 2025, the trial court granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants from improperly increasing the tenants’ rent and refusing to refund the amounts collected for the improper rent increases, among other things. In August 2026, the appellate court upheld this preliminary injunction.