LAS VEGAS (KNX) — Candy Torres was startled when she saw an attachment to her 2018 lease that read “Direct Consent for Sexual Intercourse and/or Fellatio or Cunnilingus.” However, the homeless mother of five quickly signed it to get her children into a home near good schools.
“Who names a document that?” housing lawyer Bruce Flammey asked rhetorically in an interview with KNTV this moth regarding Torres’ 2019 lawsuit.
In the suit, she names exactly who did it: real estate agent Allan Rothstein.
According to KNTV, Rothstein admitted to the Nevada Real Estate Division that he wrote the sex contract and required his tenant to sign it. Per Torres’ lawsuit, Rothstein obtained his Nevada property manager license in 2009 and his Nevada real estate broker license in 2013 and has used a variety of “fictitious names” to run his business.
In the complaint – which accuses Rothstein and other defendants identified as Torres’ landlords of discrimination and harassment in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act – Torres’ attorneys explain that she was living in a hotel before she was approved for a Section 8 housing choice voucher. Rentals paid for using these vouchers are subject to several U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations in addition to typical state landlord-tenant statues.
Torres found a home listed at 11893 Wedgebrook Street in Las Vegas and contacted Rothstein about it. He then invited her to inspect the home.
Although the property “was dirty and in need of cosmetic repairs,” Torres decided to apply since it was “spacious, located in a nice neighborhood, and near good schools for her kids.”
On Oct. 1, 2018, Torres delivered a completed, notarized rental application to Rothstein at his home in Henderson, Nev., as well as payments he demanded in order to hold the home and process her application.
However, he then demanded more. Since Torres did not have any additional funds, she offered to clean and repair the home. Rothstein agreed, but said he would need even more, and asked her to give him a “hand job,” which she refused to do and left.
“As promised, Torres invested significant time and money to improve the Wedgebrook House before starting her tenancy,” said the complaint. “She purchased paint and painted the walls. She purchased and installed new floor covering. She cleaned the interior as well.”
Still, Rothstein demanded that Torres again travel to his home in Henderson to sign one of two leases for the home. The “Direct Consent for Sexual Intercourse and/or Fellatio or Cunnilingus” was an attachment to this lease. Torres’ suit describes it as “an extraordinary document, made all the more bizarre for its appearance as a condition for rental of a dwelling.”
A reprinting of the document in the complaint states that the “RESPONDENT/S hereby and freely gives their total consent to the INITIATOR/S to engage in sexual activities with the RESPONDENT/S with the understanding that sexual intercourse as defined by the State of Nevada will occur. This consent and agreement is valid for the period of FIVE years and does hereby freely give implied consent to consecutive or concurrent sexual encounters between the RESPONDENTS/S and the INITIATOR/S.”
“My reaction was 'you had to be putting me on'... That nobody in their right mind would go to the trouble to draw up a contract like this,” Flammey told KNTV.
At one point it states “please read this legal contract carefully.”
“And that's where I started laughing,” said Flammey. “Because this is a legal contract the way the actors on Grey’s Anatomy are real doctors. This is literally not worth the paper it’s printed on.”
According to the complaint, demands in the “contract” range from inaccurate to “chillingly precautionary,” including a passage about having “a boyfriend/girlfriend/parent who is larger, meaner, and more physically aggressive, owns firearms and/or is more possessive than the INITIATOR/S.”
Additionally, Rothstein’s lease agreement contained other rental terms that violated state law and HUD regulations, the attorneys said.
When Torres continued to refuse Rothstein’s demands for sex, he began threatening to evict her.
“Starting in February 2019, defendants – while collecting HAP [housing assistance payments] payments from SNRHA – served two inaccurate five-day eviction notices on Torres claiming that she owed rent for monies paid by SNRHA [Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority] and a slew of unlawful fees and charge,” said the complaint.
When pressed by Nevada Legal Service to prove their claims, defendants dropped their eviction against Torres.
“As a result of defendants’ unlawful conduct, Torres suffered emotional distress, including humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish and attendant bodily injury, violation of her civil rights, and loss of dignity,” said the complaint. “Torres also suffered an invasion to her private right of occupancy, depriving her of the use and enjoyment of her tenancy, invasion of her privacy, defamation, and wrongful eviction.”
Torres is seeking compensatory damages under the Fair Housing Act and other statutes.
Rothstein denies any Fair Housing Act violations in court records. Sources close to the case told KNTV that he has done the same thing he did to Torres to other alleged victims.
While Flammey said he had never seen a document like Rothstein’s fake contract, he thinks there may be more out there. Flammey stressed that even though Torres initialed the documents, illegal contracts are worthless.
“People sign things all the time, and the popular myth is, well, you signed it, so it’s binding,” he said. “There are a variety of things you can sign that are not binding. Any contract that is against the law or public policy is not binding.”
According to KNTV, the Nevada Real Estate Division revoked Rothstein’s real estate broker and property management licenses. He has so far been fined $94,000.
People involved in the case would not speak with KNTV as the case is ongoing.
Flammey said that the complaint indicates this is the type of case where “somebody ought to go to jail.”
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