Fair Rent Commission

Minutes of the Sept. 19, 2024 meeting of the Norwich Fair Rent Commission Present: Commission members Lee-Ann Gomes, Ed Belli, Rebecca Melucci, Alternate, Nicole Haggerty, Atty. Michael Driscoll, (Corporation Council for the City of Norwich), Tenant, Amanda Winslow and landlord, Asaf Cohen The meeting began at 9:00am. Minutes of the August 15, 2024 meeting were approved. The commission was able to purchase a laptop and a scanner so that materials presented at the meeting could be easily scanned for the file. The commission also discussed who needed materials printed out for the meeting , as they are already emailed. Those who do not require printouts will no longer get hard copies. Attorney Driscoll had shared with the commission a form landlords could fill out to disclose their income. A town is using this form, however, landlords are not complying. The Commission discussed whether or not we wanted to incorporate this into our procedures. There were pros and cons for the idea, namely, that despite how much income a landlord makes he still may be within his rights to raise the rent. Since there would be no consequence for landlords not filling this out, the form seemed unnecessary. The matter was tabled while Mr. Belli, as the landlord representative, considers options and presents something workable to the Commission. The next item was a recap of the meeting Lee-Ann Gomes had set up with the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Center for Housing Equity and Opportunity. Both Nicole Haggerty and Ed Belli attended this meeting. The meeting was to discuss whether or not smaller towns should be able to use Fair Rent Commissions that larger towns had formed or whether or not a separate agency, like the Council of Governments, should be able to hear cases from smaller towns. There will be more meetings on the subject, and perhaps legislation to assist the towns whose populations is under 25,000 and are not mandated to have Fair Rent Commissions. Gomes will keep the Norwich commission apprised of any meetings or progress made on this issue. Next, the case of Amanda Winslow, the Pinehurst 154 Realty, LLC was heard. This case is marked as FRC– 2024–016. Amanda Winslow and her landlord, Asaf Cohen, were sworn in by Attorney Driscoll. Ms. Winslow asserted that in August 2024 she forgot to pay her rent. On Aug 13, 2024 she was served a notice to quit by, who she claims, was a very hostile person. Once this was called to her attention she said she did pay her rent, the late fees and the fees associated with being served a notice to quit. Subsequently, on August 15, 2024 she received a notice saying her rent was being raised from $1100-$1600. She believes that this is violation of section 4–41, excessive rent, and that this increase was in retaliation for her being late on rent. She went to CT Legal Services and was advised to file a complaint with the Norwich Fair Rent Commission. She acknowledges that she did not contact her landlord to discuss the situation to see if there was a compromise that could be had. She did note in her complaint that she would be willing to accept a rental increase of $200. ( It was pointed out to her that her landlord did not know about her willingness to do this until the FRC sent him a copy of the complaint.) Documents she presented, besides the complaint, were utility bills, her lease, a copy of the notice to quit and the notice of rent increase. Her landlord, Asaf Cohen, then presented. He had submitted photos of the apartment, lease renewal, Zillow comparables, property tax increase, insurance increase, fair market rentals for two-bedroom apartments in the area, and a comparable Broadway lease. Mr. Cohan felt he was well within his rights to raise the rent, as he had done so for other units that he owns. He stated that Ms. Winslow had lived in her current apartment for five years without any rental increase and that the comps, increase in taxes and insurance, and the fair market values for two-bedroom apartments demonstrated that the rent was well below market level. He stated that if Miss Winslow had come to him, perhaps a compromise could’ve been reached . It was suggested by a commission member that the go into the hall to see if they could come up with a compromise that satisfied both parties, instead of the FRC making a determination. They did so. The compromised that they reached was that the rent would be increased to $1400 on 10- 1-24. On Jan. 1, 2025 the rent will increase to $1600 until 5-31-25. Mr. Cohen will give Ms. Winslow a one-page lease renewal. Ms. Winslow is free to leave the apartment with a 30 day notice at any time and will get her security deposit back as long as the apartment is “broom clean”. This compromise will be sent to both parties by the NFRC. In light of how this case worked out, the NFRC agreed that the hearing notice forms which are sent to both the landlord and tenant should state that they should try to mediate the conflict before the hearing, if possible, to come up with an agreement satisfying to both parties. Changes to be made to the forms. It was also decided that a copy of the Ordinance, describing the powers of the NFRC, would also be sent to both parties before the hearing. Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:15am. The next meeting of the FRC will be October 17, 2024 at 9:00 am.