Complaint Review: Dr. Armin Azad - Santa Monica California

 It all started when they she said "trust" me. I found this great location for my new cigar store and the landlord Dr Armin Azad, appeared enthusiastic about me as tenant, making statements like "I feel good about you" as if my personal character was a deciding factor over my good credit and strong financials. I should have realized then it was Dr Jekle talking. Upon our first introductions it was pretty clear that there was a homeless issue in her shopping center. I figured it was likely manageable because my unit was on the corner next to the alley way. But once I opened homeless people usually find other places to congregate. I had my contractor come do a cursory inspection and pointed out a few things like an area of the roof that appeared to have some mold and was likely to cause the most problems. The problem was the drop down ceiling was painted black and it was hard to see what we were about to get ourselves into but after bringing this information to Dr. Armin Azad she said she would fix the roof. I signed the lease and with in a day we had some pretty serious rain. I was so excited about finally having my place I want to smoke a cigar inside, so that night about 8pm I brought a chair and ashtray.

Only to discover water dripping down from ceiling and not in just one spot but from eight different spots. I sent a text to both Dr. Armin Azad's broker/agent and explain the circumstances. Later that week while I was finalizing plans for the build out my hvac contractor found entrails of termite damage through roughly 90% of joists and from the sheeting below the roof. After removing some of the insulation from the spots that were soaked we found a crazy amount of mold. The roof had to be replaced. But this wasn't the only problem. As I was now spending every day at the store I realized the homeless situation was far more serious than Dr Armin Azad indicated. Matter of fact when I inquired as to why the last tenant moved out Dr Armin Azad said it was because their business couldn't make it. I later find out from both the police department and the city planning office it's because Dr Armin Azad feeds to bears. She doesn't police her own plaza and allows the homeless to sleep there. I was dumbstruck. So I go around to the other tenants and introduce myself while asking about the homeless issue. They all said the same thing, Dr Armin Azad seems to care more for homeless then her own tenants.

See there is a clause in the addendum of the lease that's very carefully worded and stuck in a place that it shouldn't be in, making it easy to overlook. Frank Mazdyasnian is Dr Armin Azads husband, he's the one who wrote the lease. Which I would tell anyone don't use it! 43 pages of pure runaround. So he snuck in this clause that essentially makes the original lease ineffective. We haven't gone to court yet but if we do I'll amend this report to indicate what the judge feels about this shadiness. So I send Dr Armin Azad an email explaining the roof is far worse condition then was indicated and the homeless problem is far more serious than she ever indicated. I wanted permission to install a security gate for my business. She got very angry by the email, calling me a troublemaker and that's now very concerned about me as tenant and wants to let me out of my lease. I didn't feel like I did anything wrong, confirmed that fact with my attorney and declined. I told her I was suprised by her reaction because aren't we "trusting" each other? I was truly wanting to be optimistic. So her broker calls me and says let me deal with them obviously she and I aren't communicating well. So I now deal with Joubin who is a rockstar.

He is able to soft shoe them enough to get some action. Meanwhile I'm a team player right? I go to Home Depot and buy construction paper and tape and have one of my guys cover the floor, I buy 8 buckets and we try to mitigate the rain. We don't do a great job but we manage. By this point I've provided Joubin photos of the damaged ceiling and reports from an environmental company as to the mold. I'm concerned about the food businesses in the building, but they aren't. Matter of fact they haven't told any of the other tenant to check their ceilings so I did. Sure enough the entire roof to the entire shooing center needs to be replaced. So I wait a week, I inquire as to what progress they're making with a roof guy and mold remediation. They've done nothing. I contact Joubin and ask for rent abatement per the lease. I get an email telling me the rent for March is due on the first no later than the Fifth. So I consult my attorney and we agree that this has gone sideways in the worst way. So I tendered my possession of the space back to the landlords agent and notified them that they are to return my deposit and reimburse my expenses - they haven't as of yet, nearly a $21,000 loss - my lease has attorney fees clause but because this case is for so little money every attorney I talk to won't take it because there isn't enough damages. Sad really. So what else can I do? Eviscerate Dr Amin Azad via social media and tell the truth of my experience and hope she does the right thing.