Staff Reports
NEW BRITAIN – A reorganized Fair Rent Commission voted Tuesday May 23rd, to hold hearings on rent increase complaints at a West Main Street apartment complex.
Seven tenants are seeking relief over rent hikes from 22% to 43% that would take effect in June. In the case of the largest increase among the complaints received, an apartment renting for $1,050 would be raised to $1,500 monthly. Under state law and the city ordinance enacted in 2012 the Fair Rent Commission has the authority “to ensure that rental charges are not harsh and unconscionable.”
State law empowers local commissions to “make studies and investigations, to conduct hearings and receive complaints relative to rental charges on housing accommodations, to ensure that rental charges “are not harsh and unconscionable,” thus creating a fair and equal process for the tenant and landlord; compelled by the need for habitable and rent stabilized housing stock in the city of New Britain.”
In New Britain, excessive rent complaints under the current ordinance will not be considered if tenants have already signed a lease agreeing to the increase, owe back rent or the landlord has initiated a legal eviction action against a tenant.
Fair Rent Commission: How To File A Complaint
Contact Jerrell Hargraves, 27 West Main Street 06051
Tel: (860) 826-3410 | Email: [email protected]
Human Rights & Opportunities Officer Jerrell Hargraves reported to the Commission that mediation efforts by the city were not agreed to by the landlord at 923 West Main Street and the complaints were then included on the agenda. Complaints are first taken up at Hargraves’ office through mediation before being referred to the commission. Of the eight complaints on the commission’s agenda one case was dismissed and the remaining seven at 923 West Main Street will be scheduled for a hearing. Officials anticipate hearings to be scheduled with seven days’ notice in June prior to the next regular meeting.
The two-building apartment complex on West Main Street, built in 1969, was purchased in 2016 by Nine Hundred Twenty Three West Main LLC, a Cedarhurst, NY based corporation. The complex includes 72 apartments and, after last year’s revaluation, the property is assessed for taxation purposes at $4,134,060.
Three additional members have been appointed to the Fair Rent Commission since an organizational meeting was held in April with one more appointment to be made. By statute the commission consists of three property owners, three landlords and three tenants. The Commission’s vote to hold hearings on excessive rent complaints are the first in several years and followed a petition by Ward 3 Alderman Aram Ayalon (D-3) inquiring about the commission’s inactivity over the last several years.
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