The California real estate empire of Mosser Living, a company that owns 61 buildings in San Francisco but has been selling off parts of its portfolio, could lose another 428 housing units in the coming months, according to documents obtained by Mission Local. 

Mosser is one of the largest corporate landlords in San Francisco. The company, founded in 1955, received receivership orders for 14 of its San Francisco buildings — 13 residential and one commercial — between June 5 and October 15.

Receivership typically occurs when two parties, like a landlord and a lender, are in disagreement. The buildings affected are in the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, SoMa and Hayes Valley, and house 428 units.

While receivership does not on its own mean buildings are for sale, many have already received notices for public auction. “Notices of trustee sale,” which indicate a default on a loan and a subsequent sale, were sent to six Mosser buildings between August and October that house 141 units. Those face imminent foreclosure if Mosser doesn’t come to an agreement with its lender, JP Morgan Chase.

The rest of the buildings could soon follow. If Mosser offloads them, the sales would continue a trend of the firm shedding properties. The real estate company, which owns 3,500 units in California, has struggled to recover from the pandemic. 

Mosser has already lost at least 14 buildings in the last two years. In early 2024, the company defaulted on a $88 million loan, losing 12 buildings with 459 apartments. In September, the company defaulted on two loans totaling over $26 million for two properties: the Hotel North Beach and the apartment complex at 1499 California St. 

Large corporate property owners like Mosser and Veritas, once San Francisco’s largest landlord, have defaulted on tens of millions in loans in the past years. Loss of rental income during the pandemic, high interest rates, and the uncertain future of San Francisco’s housing market have made it difficult for city landlords to pay off debt.

Mosser owes $73.8 million to JP Morgan Chase for 13 of the buildings and $9.8 million to Lone Oak Fund LLC for one property, according to court records. It has not made payments on most of the loans since November 2024. 

Those 14 properties were subsequently placed under receivership, which occurs when two parties own something jointly and are in disagreement, said Jackson Wyche, a partner at Receivership Specialists, a firm that oversees receiverships. 

The court then appoints a “neutral third party” to oversee the asset — in this case, the 14 buildings — “while the dispute plays out in court,” Wyche said.

Mosser’s holdings are vast. Its website claims 3,500 units in California and lists 61 buildings in San Francisco, 14 in Oakland, and two in Los Angeles. Many house rent-controlled units.

Mosser has also been embroiled in a family rivalry. The company was founded by Charles Mosser in 1955. A law school dropout, Mosser was described in his obituary as a “voracious dealmaker” who considered it a sin to sell property once it was acquired and owned more than 35 apartment buildings and four hotels at the time of his death in 2007. 

In 2024, the Mosser siblings, a son and a daughter, openly struggled over the future of the family business: Deborah Mosser requested a San Francisco court to remove her brother, Nuevo Mosser, from his role as head of the company, for alleged mismanagement 

The company and Neveo Mosser did not reply to a request for comment.

While not all receiverships lead to foreclosures, both of Mosser’s lenders are seeking foreclosure of all 14 properties, according to court documents.

Three buildings — those at 400-402 Pierce St., 415 Pierce St. and 765 Geary St. — are set for a public auction on Nov. 20. The amount JP Morgan Chase is requesting in order to forestall that auction is $17,045,037, a mixture of overdue payments and late fees. Three others had auctions in the past, and the owner of those buildings today is unclear.

Mosser has 20 days to respond to any notices of trustee sale, but those sales are often postponed, 30 days at a time, so the two sides can arrange a deal. Postponements in cases like these are extremely common, said Sarah Shapero, a real estate attorney.

Steven Edrington, a real estate broker and real estate expert, suspected that Mosser may not be meeting its debt-service coverage ratio — the ratio between a business’ revenue and the debt it has to pay back. That, he said, may be leading them to sell of units.

“I think that’s the issue,” said Edrington. “They have too many vacancies. They’ve had to lower the rent and there’s also higher operating costs.”