Barrington Borough officials held a legal clinic for residents of the Barrington Mews on Wednesday.
Residents of Barrington Mews, a subsidized living community teetering on new ownership, have been concerned about potential rent hikes. The facility houses more than 300 senior and disabled tenants.
The hour-long event was held Jan. 29 at the borough hall, where residents in the audience were able to ask questions about tenant rights and tenant-landlord disputes to attorneys with the nonprofit South Jersey Legal Services.
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Mews resident Betty Almo said she'd seen this all before when her previous apartment complex sold to new owners that upped the rent to market value.
"It's just greed," she said. "If it was their moms and dads in these places, would they do the same thing?"
Residents at the event were able to open files with the legal service on site to discuss individual concerns about their rents and leases.
In the almost two months that have passed since rumors of a potential sale first spread, blindsiding residents and borough officials alike, Barrington Mayor Kyle Hanson said a lack of communication from the complex's property management has been "the biggest hurdle."
Tenants and local officials said they had no idea that the property owners, who recently filed to extend a tax abatement agreement with the municipality, intended to sell the property.
Though Hanson said potential buyers Axial Partners and Hudson Atlantic had informed the municipality that the sale was scheduled to close Feb. 8, neither AAH Management, which oversees the property, nor supposed buyers had returned various communications about the sale, title deed restrictions or resources for residents.
According to a Dec. 23 letter sent from Barrington Borough officials to residents at the complex, a title search of the property confirmed that the complex has deed restrictions in place that state the property should be restricted to "multi-unit, multi-story senior citizens and handicapped rental complex of a minimum of 100 units."
Hanson's office informed representatives of Axial Partners and Hudson Atlantic that the borough intends to enforce the deed restrictions, but as of Jan. 29 there was still no response.
AAH Management, Axial Partners and Huson Atlantic have been evasive to this publication's previous attempts to obtain comments on the sale.
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At the clinic Wednesday evening, several residents expressed frustrations while trying to understand their legal options.
In a letter to the Courier-Post, one resident said tenants were informed that the new owners intend to increase rent by $200 a month for the first year after their leases expire before moving to market rate. The tenant did not, however, have proof of this in writing.
Numerous others said that they had received no written notice of intended rent increases or new lease proposals, and worried about what would happen when their leases expired.
Since the announcement of the sale, Barrington Mews residents and caretakers have faced roadblocks in finding new housing at comparable rates.
Based on rate breakdowns as of December, the one- and two-bedroom apartments are open to residents with an annual gross income of between $16,000 and $55,080. Monthly rent ranges between $581 and $862, depending on the floor plan.
William Welsh, a U.S. Navy veteran, said he's no stranger to dealing with rent increases, something he faced again at a previous South Jersey apartment complex.
While he said he didn't think he would have to be in this situation again, he acknowledged that Veterans Affairs provided him with needed assistance and resources.
"There's a lot of people (at Barrington Mews) that are much worse off than I am," Welsh said, before praising the municipality, saying Barrington Borough officials have "really gone above and beyond" in their efforts to assist residents.
The borough hosted another resource fair for residents Jan. 15, though Hanson said fliers posted in the building's community room advertising the event to tenants had been "quickly removed."
This time, the mayor's office sent fliers and notices directly to each tenant's mailing address.
In response to the praise that he and his fellow municipal officials received from residents, Hanson said he doesn't think they would "quantify it as going above and beyond. ... I think we're just doing what we were elected to do."
Kaitlyn McCormick writes about trending issues and community news across South Jersey for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times. If you have a story she should tell, email her at [email protected]. And subscribe to stay up to date on the news you need.