Massachusetts renters facing another round of rent increases are pushing back, bringing their landlords back to the negotiating table.
At Pleasant View apartments in Easthampton, 24 tenants signed a letter refusing to renew their leases after receiving proposed increases on top of earlier hikes of roughly $400 a month.
Here's what to know
Along with their notices, tenants received an Oct. 1 lease-renewal deadline through a property management app. Residents of the 33-unit complex received notices in August proposing monthly increases of $100 to $200, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
The proposed monthly rent for Nancy Dorian's two-bedroom apartment was $1,610 — $160 more than the $1,450 the Pleasant View tenant was paying.
"The first time I just cried, I couldn't even believe it," she told the Gazette, recalling the earlier hike. "This time — I'm not doing it."
Many residents belong to the Pleasant View Tenants Association. Together, they sought smaller increases and multiyear agreements to make housing costs more predictable, rather than the month-to-month terms initially offered.
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More background
The dispute follows two ownership changes in just two years, the Gazette reported.
The October 2024 sale to Daniel Scherban and Joseph Scherban, of New York-based Rowin Capital, totaled $4 million. In November 2024, many residents received rent hikes of about $400 — increases of 35% to 40%. Multiple tenants moved out.
Landlord Jay Patel then purchased Pleasant View for just over $5 million in October 2025. He cited rising management and insurance expenses, a 5% water and sewer rate increase, and Easthampton's $6.9 million Proposition 2½ override as reasons for raising rents.
The property's annual tax bill was about $41,000, and the override was expected to add about $8,000, according to Easthampton's override calculator.
"A lot of our frustrations are coming from us to the negotiating table," tenant Andrey Popchuck, whose proposed increase was $200, told the Gazette. "We're saying, 'We need you to at least consider that times are tough for us, too.'"
What's being done?
During the first negotiation, landlords offered to cap increases at $150 but declined multiyear leases.
Residents were still weighing management's revised offer, Dorian said. Under that proposal, tenants could sign multiyear agreements with no signing deadline and a 5% cap on annual increases for three years. Management offered those terms after tenants held firm, along with an immediate $75 monthly rent increase.
Beyond Pleasant View, the Easthampton Rent Study Committee is nearing a draft home rule petition for local rent stabilization, according to the Gazette. Approval from the City Council and State Legislature would be necessary. Separate state House and Senate rent-stabilization bills have made little progress.
For Pleasant View tenant Jack Duggan, the negotiations are about protecting a community that includes veterans, older residents, and longtime neighbors.
"We're great tenants. This is our home," he said. "People are invested in this. [Some] people have been here almost 20 years."
Where can I learn more?
Pleasant View tenants aren't alone in pushing back against rising housing costs. These stories cover Boston housing proposals, Portland's rent cap, California tenants' fee protests, and repair costs at affordable apartments.
• Boston's housing plan cuts its building target and adds tax breaks as rents climb.
• Boston could publicly list problem landlords and bar them from city contracts.
• Portland, Maine, renters could face a 2.6% rent increase next year under rent-control rules.
• California mobile-home tenants rallied against added fees after officials rejected a pass-through fee freeze.
• Repairs to aging affordable apartments in Los Angeles County could push rents higher.
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