Fair Rent Commission

Minutes of the April 11, 2024 meeting of the Norwich Fair Rent Commission Present: Commission members Lee-Ann Gomes, Chair, Ed Belli, Rebecca Melucci, Atty. Michael Driscoll, (Corporation Council for the City of Norwich), Alternate Nicole Haggerty Tenant Lisa Desso, and her landlord Doris Groner-Hamel, tenant Erica Roosa and her landlord representative Angel Aybar The meeting began at 9:00am. Minutes of the March 14, 2024 meeting were approved. The Commission decided to formulate a document of Procedural Rules. This will include things like how the Chair responds to emails outside of the meeting, how to handle complaints that are filed close to the hearing date, what to do if a landlord will not participate in the hearing, and how to handle out of town cases. The rules will be expanded as issues arise. Motion made and seconded and approved for the Chair to respond to all email inquiries with“Unfortunately, we are unable to answer your question outside of a meeting of the commission.” The Commission heard the case of Lisa Desso who resides at 66 North Cliff Street and landlord Doris Groner-Hamel. This case was continued from March. Both parties were sworn in by Atty. Driscoll. The tenant and landlord had been given time to resolve their issues, but they were unable to do so. There are still discrepancies about how much rent/security deposit is owed. Ms. Desso states she has been granted $4500 from Unite CT but is unclear what that money is to be used for and it is unclear as to if the landlord has completed her portion of the application. There are discrepancies over whether the lease was signed and if Section 8 has paid their portion. The commission advised the tenant and landlord to have more conversation and, if they could not resolve this issue amongst themselves, to see us again May 16, 2024. At that meeting we will require a mutually agreed upon letter as to how much rent is owed, how much security deposit is due, and the status of Unite CT and what those funds will cover. We will reach out to both landlord and tenant prior to the May 16th meeting to see if this case still needs to be heard. The Commission heard the case of Erica Roosa who resides at 27 Norwich Ave, unit 2 . Both she and Mr. Aybar were sworn in by Atty. Driscoll. Ms. Rossa’s cases was continued from March to see if she and the landlord could reach an agreement. The landlord is proposing to raise the rent from $750/month to $1102/month. Ms. Roosa indicated that she and the landlord met. They exchanged emails and Ms. Roosa proposed a rent increase from $750 to $972 phased in over time, from May 2024 until November 2024. She also offered that, once the basement storage was opened up to her and she was no longer paying for private storage, she could pay an additional $100 towards rent. This would bring the total rent to $1072. The landlord proposed a similar phased in rent increase up to $1072, increasing from May 2024 through January 2024, offering a slower phase-in. He could not, however, guarantee when the storage space would be refurnished. (During the hearing he did offer Ms. Roosa free, unlocked storage space on a slab in the basement which Ms. Roosa declined.) It is important to note that although Ms. Roosa had been given use of free storage by the former owner, this is not in her lease. Ms. Roosa presented other points for the Commission to consider; she believes her square footage requires a lower fair market rental, she is disabled and has limited earning potential, she believes the rent increase is unconscionable, she has other expenses and is not “living outside of her means”. Mr. Aybar had previously presented information on increased costs, property improvements, rental comparables. After discussion, the Commission voted 2-1 to agree with the rent increase schedule proposed by the landlord. Rent, therefore, will be increased to $802 for May 1, 2024, $882 on July 1, 2024, $972 on Sept. 1, 2024, $1022 on Nov 1, 2024, and then $1072 on Jan. 1, 2025. Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:30 am. The next meeting of the FRC will be May 16, 2024 at 9:00 am.