Essex Property Trust, one of the largest corporate landlords in the United States, recently agreed to a whopping $19.25-million settlement for allegedly withholding security deposits from San Diego-area tenants in ways that are bogus, to say the least. It’s a huge scandal—and state and local authorities must immediately investigate Essex Property Trust to see if tenants in other parts of California were scammed. Elected leaders in Seattle should do the same.
Essex Property Trust is helmed by CEO Angela Kleiman and based in San Mateo, California. It owns more than 47,000 apartments in Northern and Southern California, and is ranked by the National Multifamily Housing Council as the fifteenth largest corporate landlord in the U.S. The company has a track record of scandal and shelling out tens of millions in campaign cash to kill tenant protections in California. The security-deposit scam only underlines the company’s constant shadiness.
Between 2018 and 2025, Essex Property Trust delivered an astounding $60.1 million to the California Apartment Association’s four political committees, which were used to stop pro-tenant legislation anywhere in California and to discreetly send campaign contributions to state and local politicians.
Between 2018 and 2024, in California, Essex Property Trust and other landlords spent more than $310 million in political money to successfully kill Proposition 10 in 2018, Proposition 21 in 2020, and Proposition 33 in 2024. The measures, which were supported by labor unions, tenant rights groups, and social justice organizations, tried to repeal or reform statewide rent control restrictions. Essex Property Trust played a leading role in stopping the initiatives, and helped finance massive misinformation campaigns to trick and confuse voters.
Not surprisingly, Essex Property Trust has also been mired in the nationwide RealPage scandal. That involves corporate landlords using a RealPage software program to collude and wildly inflate rents throughout the country, including California. Their actions triggered numerous investigations and lawsuits—and fueled the housing affordability crisis in the U.S.
So now Times of San Diego has reported that Essex Property Trust, which is one of the largest landlords in San Diego, “has agreed to pay $19.25 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it wrongly withheld security deposits.” The scams include keeping the security deposit to pay for repairs that were never made and inflating the cost of repairs.
Essex Property Trust was brazen in its dishonesty.
Times of San Diego, for example, reported that in “one instance, cited in the complaint, a San Fernando man said Essex charged him nearly $2,000 to replace the carpet in his unit. The man then obtained the invoice from the contractor. The invoice amount was $907.”
The paper also reported that at “Essex’s Form 15 apartment complex in Downtown San Diego, a tenant said Essex sent her move-out statements that included a $550 charge for painting the unit. When the tenant called the company, they had no record of the work.”
In addition, “The same Form 15 tenant was also charged for carpet cleaning. The apartment, however, had concrete floors.”
Read those two over again. It’s mind-bogglingly scandalous.
The obvious question that now comes to mind is, Who else got scammed?
Think about it. Essex Property Trust operates more than 47,000 apartments throughout California, so it’s highly unlikely that the corporate landlord was only improperly withholding security deposits in San Diego. There’s a good chance it happened at properties in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland, too.
So state and local authorities in California must immediately start investigations—and since Essex Property Trust owns rental units in Seattle, Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion should also be asking questions.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has gone after sleazy landlords in the past, could set up a statewide task force and figure out exactly who got scammed by Essex Property Trust and for how long. And Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, among others, could make some moves.
Investigations are needed to not only seek justice for tenants, but to also send a million-watt message to other corporate landlords that predatory business practices won’t be tolerated in California. Never.
Patrick Range McDonald is a veteran investigative reporter and the award-winning advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right.