Fair Rent Commission delivers final ruling on mold case

Members of the Fair Rent Committee deliberate over a decision involving a landlord-tenant dispute. | Donovan Wilson

Posted By: Donovan Wilson October 2, 2023

By Donovan Wilson

The Fair Rent Commission reached a final ruling on the case concerning the raising of Hope Palmeri’s rent by her landlords, Lazim Eleckovsky & Cetka Dalipovski.

Palmeri contested her landlords wanting to raise her rent from $1,050 to $1,200. This case began at last month’s regular meeting, with it finishing at the September meeting last week. The final ruling was preceded by new information and final statements, presented by both parties.

Chair Jon P. FitzGerald prefaced the presentations by stating that at this point in time, the commission had not received any new information from the Health Department, but that the Building Department stated that the mold had been remedied and was not an issue.

Palmeri started her presentation by stating that she had talked to the attorney representing the case, who reiterated the same sentiment about having spoken to the building people and being told that the mold situation had been resolved and was not currently considered a health issue.

She, however, said that her bathroom is still mold infested, with lines of mold along the entire perimeter of the tub. Palmeri said she had not seen her landlords since they last collected her rent about three weeks ago.

Palmeri did claim to have photos on her phone, but nothing was shared as she did not have any hard copies. She said her bathroom had been caulked, but she claimed that rather than fixing the problem, the caulk trapped everything going on beyond the wall and now what was behind the wall was coming out of the wall again. In addition, she said mold was forming on the ceiling.

The landlords were next to take the stand, with Eleckovsky representing their case. He opened by stating that he had received the letter from Chief Building Official Richard Brown sent three weeks ago and that he had taken care of all the issues, as backed up by the Building Department, and said he had pictures to represent that.

He also said that he had everything cleaned and that it was then in the tenant’s hands to maintain it, meaning any damage that’s now sustained would be considered improper use (tenant caused).

After all of the information was presented, the commission reviewed the criteria and voted unanimously in favor of the landlords, who could now raise the rent to $1,200.

The commission discussed that they will have decided upon meeting schedule for 2024 by their November meeting. They made it clear that they have their meetings scheduled regularly and will not be claim-based as much of the other fair rent commissions tend to be in other cities.

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