Landlord threatens to evict firefighter, his family because of second baby, feds say
A landlord threatened to evict a firefighter and his family from their apartment in California’s Bay Area once she learned they were having another child, according to the Justice Department.
Days before Waael Abuhijab and Yasmin Abuhijab’s second baby was born, their landlord, Melinda Bautista Teruel, repeatedly called the couple, pressuring them to move out of their one-bedroom apartment in Burlingame, a federal housing discrimination lawsuit filed by the Justice Department says.
Teruel had told Yasmin Abuhijab that “families with children are known to cause more wear and tear,” a complaint says.
While Yasmin Abuhijab was in the hospital after giving birth in 2019, Teruel called her and “insisted” that she and her family move into a three-bedroom apartment — which the couple had told her they couldn’t afford, according to a complaint.
Teruel continued to pressure the family for the next several months, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and threatened to evict them — causing the family to leave in July 2020, the complaint says.
After they moved, Teruel accused the family of being “backstabbing,” changing the apartment’s locks and damaging the unit — writing in an email that she would take away their security deposit and that they needed to pay for repairs, according to the complaint. She also threatened to send a notice about the alleged damage to Waael Abuhijab’s job, the complaint says.
Waael Abuhijab, who worked for the San Francisco Fire Department, responded and pushed back against the accusations, which the complaint says are false.
“You literally called my wife while she was in the hospital after giving birth to our child to harass us about moving into the bigger apartment,” he wrote in an email, the complaint says.
Now, Teruel must pay the Abuhijabs $137,500 as part of a settlement reached with the Justice Department that resolves the lawsuit, which accused Teruel of discriminating against the couple and their children based on their family status, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a Sept. 18 news release.
This type of discrimination violates the Fair Housing Act, prosecutors said.
Attorneys representing Teruel didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment Sept. 19.
“Housing providers must always comply with federal civil rights laws. They cannot discriminate based on national origin, race, or other protected characteristics, including familial status,” U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey said in a statement.
After the Abuhijabs moved into the two-story, seven-unit apartment complex managed by Teruel, she told them that their one-bedroom unit wasn’t for families once she learned they were having their first baby, according to the lawsuit.
Following the birth of their second child, Teruel suggested that the Abuhijabs should open a day care inside a three-bedroom apartment so they could afford to move into there, the lawsuit says.
“Discrimination against children (is) against the law. The constant harassment from you regarding my children has been unbearable. You can’t tell us how many children to have and you can’t make us move into a larger apartment because we had kids after moving (i)nto here,” Yasmin Abuhijab wrote in response to an email from Teruel in which she commented on the size of Abuhijab’s family, according to the complaint.
After the family moved from the apartment complex, Teruel sold the property, the Justice Department said.
The couple filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which found Teruel violated the Fair Housing Act and discriminated against the family, according to officials. Then HUD referred the case to the Justice Department.
If Teruel buys and becomes the landlord of another rental property, officials said that as part of the settlement, “she must undergo training on FHA compliance, develop and implement a nondiscrimination policy and complaint procedure, hire a property manager, and submit regular reports concerning her compliance with the order.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2024 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Landlord threatens to evict firefighter, his family because of second baby, feds say."
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