California Attorney General Rob Bonta
The state’s attorney general is suing a major rental-housing supplier in Southern California for allegedly subjecting tenants to “inhumane living conditions,” including ceilings that leak and collapse, roaches in sleeping areas and sewage that exits tenants’ drains.
Attorney Rob Bonta filed the civil lawsuit June 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court against a group of family-owned companies sometimes referred to as PAMA Management. The company group, which owns or manages more than 22,000 rental units in California, is owned by Swaranjit “Mike” Nijjar, his sister Daljit “DJ” Kler and other family members, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“... Rather than provide their tenants – primarily low-income families – with the basic package of housing goods the law requires, the Nijjar Companies rent out unsafe and uninhabitable units, disregard tenants’ requests for repairs and fail to eradicate pests, inflicting harm and anguish on tenants,” the lawsuit alleges.
The habitability violations were not simply mistakes but part of an ongoing business model that defers needed investments in maintenance and instead focuses on cheap, hasty repairs by unskilled handymen, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Bonta’s complaint also alleges the company presented deceptive lease terms to prospective tenants, refused to provide Spanish translations of the leases and other papers, discriminated against low-income applicants with federal Section 8 vouchers and engaged in illegal rent increases, including the shifting of utility costs, in violation of the California Tenant Protection Act (TPA).
Attorney Stephen G. Larson, speaking on behalf of Nijjar, denied the accuracy of the allegations in Bonta’s lawsuit.
“The allegations in the complaint are false and misleading, and its claims are legally erroneous,” Larson said in an email to the Southern California Record. “We look forward to demonstrating in court that Mr. Nijjar and his companies are not only compliant with the law, but they provide an extraordinary service to housing those disadvantaged and underserved by California’s public and private housing markets.”
Bonta’s lawsuit comes in the wake of a three-year investigation by his office. Media outlets and individual tenants helped to sound the alarm about habitability defects, which affected thousands of renters, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“PAMA and the companies owned by Mike Nijjar and his family are notorious for their rampant, slum-like conditions – some so bad that residents have suffered tragic results,” Bonta said in a prepared statement. “Our investigation into Nijjar’s properties revealed PAMA exploited vulnerable families, refusing to invest the resources needed to eradicate pest infestations, fix outdated roofs and install functioning plumbing systems, all while deceiving tenants about their rights to sue their landlord and demand repairs.”
The complaint seeks an injunction to prevent future violations of state law by the Nijjar companies as well as civil penalties of $2,500 per violation of the Business and Professions Code, an award of disgorgement against company profits and reimbursement of costs related to the litigation, including the costs of the three-year investigation.
“Nijjar and his associates have treated lawsuit after lawsuit and code violation after code violation as the cost of doing business and have been allowed to operate and collect hundreds of millions of dollars each year from families who sleep, shower and feed their children in unhealthy and deplorable conditions,” Bonta said. “Enough is enough. …”