Board denies Westland request to pass $19,800 electrical upgrade cost to tenants at Hyde Park building

Lupe Dominguez, appearing for Westland Real Estate Group, asked the Inglewood Rental Housing Board to approve a capital-improvement pass-through reimbursement for a completed electrical upgrade at 812 N. Hyde Park Blvd that she said directly benefits residents. Dominguez told the board the June 2024 project "included installation of a new code compliant 400 amp electrical service, replacement of the main disconnect, new meter stock, upgraded conduit, and replacement of the main electrical wiring," and that the work cost approximately $19,800 under permit BLD24-101799.

A tenant, Alicia Raymond, urged the board to reject the request and filed a formal rebuttal. Raymond said the electrical problems dated to 2021 and that the city’s code-enforcement division issued citations beginning Nov. 17, 2022, including a yellow tag after an outage and fire. "These violations were also documented by the city of Inglewood code enforcement division beginning in 2022," Raymond said, arguing the work was necessary remediation of deferred maintenance rather than an eligible improvement that could be passed through to tenants.

Board members asked for and received clarification about the timing of repairs and notices. A company representative said the panel replacement was completed in June 2024 and that ownership chose to upgrade rather than implement temporary repairs, in part because of equipment backlogs and vendor delays. After discussion, a board member moved to deny the pass-through request, a second was made, and the board voted to deny the petition.

The board’s formal action leaves the reimbursement request rejected; the board did not approve transferring the listed cost to tenants. The meeting record shows the board handled the petition under case number 25-0-0009 and closed public comment on the item before voting.