January 28, 2026 4:14 PM

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan. 28, 2026) - The Santa Monica City Attorney's Office Consumer Protection Unit has filed a lawsuit against the landlords of more than 25 rent-controlled properties, alleging violations of a Santa Monica short-term rental law.

In the complaint, the city alleges that landlords Hamid Enayti aka Andrew Enyati, Nicole Massarat aka Nicole Enayati, Jaleh Forouhar aka Jaleh Enayati, Nina Enayati, Nina Property Management, Inc., and numerous business entities they control and operate, have systematically converted rent-controlled apartment homes into unlawful short-term rentals listed on Airbnb.com, renting at least 62 units in at least 25 Santa Monica properties to short-term guests nearly 3,000 times in violation of the City's Residential Leasing Requirements Ordinance ("RLRO"), Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 6.22.

The complaint alleges that in so doing, the Defendants have unlawfully obtained approximately $18 million that must be disgorged to the public. The complaint requests that Defendants be ordered to cease their unlawful short-term rentals and pay civil penalties of $2,500 per violation.

Passed in 2020, the RLRO generally requires that residential rentals have an initial lease term of one year or longer and requires that rentals be of unfurnished units to be used as a tenant's primary residence, meaning their usual place of return as documented by proof such as a driver's license or voter registration. By prohibiting rentals to short-term guests, the RLRO preserves rental housing for long-term residents and helps keep rents down.

The complaint alleges that Defendants' unlawful short-term rental scheme included the following:

• Listing the rent-controlled units on Airbnb.com once long-term tenants vacate
• Having guests book stays on Airbnb.com for their actual, intended, short-term stay, generally for less than 100 days
• Communicating outside of the Airbnb.com platform to have guests sign a sham one-year lease agreement
• Renting the furnished units for the short-term duration to Airbnb.com guests not using the units as their primary residence
• Intentionally deceiving guests with the fraudulent lease agreements and fraudulent statements
• Failing to file mandatory rent control registration forms or filing deceptive and misleading rent control registration forms

"Preserving rent-controlled apartment homes and keeping rents down are top priorities for the City," Deputy City Attorney Jonathan Frank said. "The City takes violations of its short-term rental ordinances seriously and will enforce them when needed."

The City Attorney's Office Consumer Protection Unit and the Code Enforcement Division actively enforce the RLRO and the City's separate vacation rental ordinance, which prohibits shorter-term rentals of 30 days or fewer except for permitted home-sharing. You can report suspected violations of the RLRO or the vacation rental ordinance at [email protected].

The Complaint, People of the State of California v. Hamid Enayati, et al., Case No. 26SMCV00397, is available here.

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