I need to obtain a letter about my rental history or a legitimate contact from a former landlord.

I moved to Chicago from Los Angeles area in September 2005. I lived at the Los Angeles residence from 7/2000 to 9/2005. The building was sold to a company called 800 Gold LTD in 2002. The onsite property manager rarely answered his phone, and later the phone number provided was out of service. Any interaction with the management company was done via mail and the property manager was instructed never to provide management company's phone number to the tenants.

Three weeks ago I contacted the County Tax Assessor's office to obtain a mailing address of the 800 Gold Ltd. I mailed a certified letter with a return receipt but a week later I still haven't received confirmation.

I found out that the address provided is actually a mail box. When I ran a Google search on the address it came up with another company name Landmark Realty & Property Management with a phone number that went to the real estate broker. I contacted the number and I am getting the run around trying to obtain this basic information. I have contacted LA Consumer Affairs, they require I send a letter to obtain contact information. I contacted the BBB and they have no reports on the company on file.

I am so frustrated what can I do to obtain this information.

Even if you were able to reach the current owners, you may very well have a hard time convincing them to root through the former owners' records to retrieve the info you need. Landlords are not required by law to share info on previous residents...

... but here's a shot:

Call a library in the CA city you lived in, ask for the reference desk, and kindly ask them in they'd help you with a Criss Cross directory (listings by street address) for the neighbors of the apartment community. Call a neighbor to ask if there is a name and number on a sign that they might help you with.

In short, besides providing proof of rent payments for the period you were there, giving the info you first posted to whoever needs it may be the best you can do.

I will agree with Rick, even if you find them, the new owners will most likely have no record of any past tennants, And I really don't believe there is any law that requires them to give out any record of your past rentals even if they have those records.

Actually who you need to contact is the old owner, if they kept the records, they would have them, most likely, not the new owner.

And a company that does not want to be contacted can most likely be assumed not willing to give out any info.

It sounds like you are needing your rent payment history to satisfy a mortgage company in qualifying for a loan, or to show a new landlord that you pay on time. Assuming that you cannot contact the old landlord, have you retained your cancelled checks or money order receipts for the rent paid during that time? If you don't get your checks back from the bank, or have discarded them, try to get copies of the checks from the bank, or a computer print out of checks paid during that time. If those statements show a regular monthly debit of a set amount (eg $725 that is the same as the rent amount shown on the lease), that should be as good as a letter from the landlord. Good luck.