American Notes LOS ANGELES

Although Neurosurgeon Milton Avol usually lives in comfort in Beverly Hills, at the moment he can be found among disgruntled tenants in his own vermin- infested tenement in Los Angeles. Avol, 64, has been sentenced to live in his building for 30 days while monitored by an electronic device on his leg. The physician earned the nickname "Ratlord" after accumulating hundreds of health- and building-code violations on his four Los Angeles apartment houses since 1977.

Avol has spruced up his temporary roost with fresh coats of paint, but residents of the four-story building tell of crumbling plaster, missing windows, faulty plumbing, roaches and rats. "I catch a minimum of ten mice a week," says Tenant Jose Cavasos. Even if Avol substantially improves the building, his eye may be on the bottom line: the apartment house is up for sale.