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Atty alleges a widespread and terrible violation of the Housing and Tenant Act. Gen. Rob Bonta sued Southern California real estate tycoon Mike Nijar in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday.
In the lawsuit, Bonta accused Nijar, his family and his company of exposing tenants to pest invasion and overcharged sewage, which he overcharged and violated the anti-discrimination law.
Nijar is one of California’s largest landlords and runs a multi-billion dollar holding, according to the lawsuit. The Nijar family company, commonly known as Pama Management, owns 22,000 rental units, primarily located in low-income areas of Southern California.
The lawsuit follows a California Department of Justice investigation into Nijar’s holdings over two years, Bonta said.
“Pama and his family owned by Mike Nijal and his family are well known for their ramp-stretched slum-like circumstances. They’re so bad that residents are suffering from tragic consequences,” Bonta said in a statement. “According to Nijjar’s property, Pama refused to invest the resources needed to exploit vulnerable families, eradicate pest invasions, correct old roofs and install a functional plumbing system.
Bonta is seeking penalties for Nijjar and his family business, tenants’ compensation, disgust of unfair profits, and penalties for injunctive relief prohibiting Nijjar and Pama from continuing their illegal business practices.
Nijar’s representative said he would forcibly refuse a claim for the suit.
“The complaint is false and misleading, and the claims are legally false,” Nijar Attorney Stephen Larson said in a statement. “We look forward to demonstrating in court that Nijar and his company are not only compliant with the law, but also provide exceptional services to accommodate people who are at a disadvantage and underserved by California’s public and private housing market.”
The Nijjar real estate empire has long been on the authorities’ radar.
In 2020, LAIST detailed widespread and dangerous situations on Nijar’s property several years ago, including a fire at a Pama-owned mobile home in Kern County that led to the death of a infant. According to the report and Bonta’s lawsuit, mobile homes were not permitted for human occupation. Two years later, The Times wrote a series of stories about Chesapeake apartments. Chesapeake Apartments is a vast 425-unit apartment in South L.A. Nijar tenants have sued sewage drainage, normal mold, pest invasion and trembling repairs. According to Times analysis at the time, Chesapeake had the most public health violations of any home in LA County in the past five years.
Previous attempts at accountability for Nijar and his company were uneven and ineffective. After the 2016 Mobile Home Fire that killed a Caen County infant, the California Department of Real Estate revoked its license associated with the then-Nijar company. In response, Nijar and his family reorganized the business structure, the lawsuit said.
The LA City Lawyer’s Office resolved an annoying mitigation complaint against Pama in the Chesapeake in 2018, but only presented widespread livability issues. A similar lawsuit filed by the City Attorney’s Office against Pama Property in Hollywood has been filed more than three years after it was filed. In the meantime, Nijjar businesses have settled multiple livability lawsuits filed by residents.
Bonta said Pama exploited the LAX and fragmentary accountability efforts and its low-income tenants’ vulnerabilities. He said most residents have little choice but to withstand the tinsel state of rental, or have fixed incomes.
The lawsuit argues that Pama Properties’ livability issues are “continued business practices.” This is not the necessary investment in maintenance, the use of an unskilled handyman, the lack of training staff, or the decision to do cheap repairs, rather than the failure to track tenant requests.
“Nijar and his associates are allowed to file suits and litigation after the code violation, litigation for business expenses, sleep hundreds of millions of dollars each year, shower and feed their children in unhealthy and deplorable circumstances,” Bonta said. “As ample enough.”
In addition to the tenants’ living conditions, the lawsuit alleges that Nijar and Pama led residents to deceptive leases, discriminated against tenants in public assistance programs, and issued illegal rent increases.
The suit alleges Pama’s lease attempts to override the rights guaranteed by law. This includes the opportunity for the landlord to be ignored and deduct these costs from the rental. The company told Section 8 voucher holders there are no units available when others are renting to applicants without a voucher, the complaint said.
The lawsuit alleges that Pama violates California’s rent cap law on more than 2,000 occasions. Legal restricted rent increases to 5% each year for most apartments. According to the lawsuit, Pama shifted the mandatory sharing utility costs that landlords were paying for tenant bills in an attempt to avoid the cap. The combination of new utility costs and rent hikes has resulted in a total increase of up to 20% increase by up to 20%, according to the lawsuit.
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