By David Jerome
Contributing Editor
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit on June 12 in Los Angeles Superior court against the officers of a family real estate empire that owns, according to the suit and widespread reporting, over 22,000 rental units in the state. The list of defendants begins with the name of Swaranjit Nijjar, aka Mike Nijjar, and includes at least 155 corporations, partnerships and LLCs within the enterprise. Among the properties listed in a 60 page appendix is Royal Pines Estates, located in Idyllwild. The list also includes over 1,300 units in Hemet and over 500 in San Jacinto, from single family homes to apartment complexes and trailer parks with over a hundred units or spaces.
Royal Pines was managed through Nijjar’s PAMA until 2020, and is now managed by a company called Mobile Management Services, with ownership by Golden Opportunity III Holdings, LP, with Swaranjit’s adult son, Sanjeet Nijjar, the sole shareholder.
The suit alleges that the defendants rent out “unsafe and uninhabitable units” and “disregard tenants’ requests for repairs.” The Suit mentions the 2016 death of a five-month-old girl by fire in a mobile home “not authorized for human occupancy,” alleging that when the Department of Real Estate revoked the licenses associated with the enterprise, the defendants reorganized their business structure and “continued leasing substandard, unsafe rental properties to vulnerable Californians.”
The suit alleges that the defendants business practices burden not only their tenants but also the surrounding communities, causing local code enforcement agencies to “spend disproportionate amounts of their limited resources trying to bring Nijjar Companies’ properties into compliance” and adds that since 2019, “Defendants have received several thousand notices of habitability defects….some citing hundreds or even thousands of defects at a single property.”
The suit says that the Defendants, in 2022, “brought in more than $330 million in rental income and were left with around $70 million in profit” but “spent more money from their corporate accounts on meals and entertainment…than they spent to provide badly needed pest-control for their tens of thousands of tenants.”
Besides the failure to maintain properties, the suit alleges engaging in unlicensed real estate activities, discriminating against prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers, adding “deceptive, unenforceable” terms to leases that waive tenant rights guaranteed by the state, and violating the California translation Act by intentionally marketing to Spanish-speaking communities but only providing leases in English. Other sections allege violations of eviction and rent increase laws.
Bonta’s suit asks for penalties of up to $2,500 per violation, and seeks payments for tenants
Nijjar’s attorney Stephen Larson has given a statement to LAist saying: “The allegations in the complaint are completely false and misleading, and its claims are legally erroneous.” LAist continues to quote the response as saying that Nijjar’s companies “provide an extraordinary service to housing those disadvantaged and underserved by California’s public and private housing markets.”
Larson also represented Nijjar in a 2023 counter-suit against the City of Los Angeles. The City invoked Public Nuisance Law (PNL) and accused Nijjar of allowing a 116 unit apartment complex in North Hollywood to become a center of gang activity. The counter-suit blamed the City for allowing criminal activity in an adjacent alley.
In that case, the court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the City to implement safety measures; improved lighting, video monitoring, private security, and criminal background checks on tenants. On remand, the background checks were removed. The California Court of Appeal reviewed the case and held that the City could enforce the original PNL order
A judge has not yet issued a schedule for pleadings in the new case.
