Absentee landlords’ squeeze play on rent hurts Easthampton tenants
Source: MassLive | By The Republican Editorials
Published: Feb. 25, 2025, 3:06 p.m. | Updated: Feb. 25, 2025, 3:07 p.m.
If by “creative strategies,” the new owners of the Pleasant View Apartments in Easthampton mean forcing tenants to sign new leases under the duress of winter homelessness, then they are, indeed, thinking outside of the box.
That creativity, though, has human consequences. Another moderately priced apartment complex in our region just got slapped with 35% to 40% rent increases, leaving more families in western Massachusetts wondering if they can afford where they live.
The rent increase, and the way tenants were apparently forced to accept new lease terms, looks even worse when considering the architects of the strategy live nowhere near Easthampton.
Daniel and Joseph Scherban run Rowin Capital, the company that bought the apartment complex last October. The investors are based in New Haven, Connecticut. They weren’t around to hear tenants lament last month that coughing up an extra $400 a month in rent poses a hardship that will keep on stinging.
