Pat Grossmith

Granite State News Collaborative/Manchester Ink Link

MANCHESTER, NH – Jennifer Azibert and her two children are scrambling to find an apartment after her rent was more than doubled from $1,475 to $3,000 a month for her Chestnut Street apartment.

“This should be illegal.  It’s not right,” she said. “This is so nuts. This is a hundred percent increase.”

Azibert has lived in the first-floor apartment at 517 Chestnut St. since 2019 when she said it was owned by Elm Grove and her rent was $1,295.  It later was increased to $1,475.

Her mother, Nancy Hamilton, lived with her until her death in December 2020. Azibert has never been behind in her rent until the exorbitant rent increase.

She said her parents always drilled into her that “you always make sure you have the roof, then the food and then the other bills.”

In a letter dated May 27, 2022, addressed to her, her late mother and her 23-year-old daughter Samantha, Blue Door Living said that “after reviewing the income and expenses for the property, we find it necessary to increase your rental rate.”  Effective July 1, 2022, it will be $3,000 a month.

About three months before she received the letter, McDall LLC sold the six-unit building (with an address of 513-517 Chestnut St.) to 3375 Capital Chestnut St LLC for $850,000.   Capital Chestnut St is located at 163 South River Road, Bedford.  According to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office, members of 3375 Capital Chestnut are Brandon Johnson of Darien, Conn., and A-1 2002 Revocable Trust of Fort Worth, Texas.  Managers are Cassandra Farley and Matthew Bacon, both of 163 South River Road, Bedford.

Blue Door Living LLC is the property manager.

Neither 3375 Capital Chestnut nor Blue Door Living responded when Manchester Ink Link reached out for a comment.

Azibert, who also has a 16-year-old son, says her two-bedroom apartment (it has another room her mother used as a bedroom) has two bathrooms.  While the building was constructed in 1910, it is well maintained and Azibert says she has no issues with it except for the high rental price tag.

She said the new owners evicted two other tenants who lived in apartments above hers.  Those apartments, she said, were renovated and now one is being rented for $2,000 a month while the other costs $1,925 a month.

She said if she had $3,000 a month, she would rent a Red Oak apartment at 875 Elm St. – the former Amoskeag Bank — where a newly renovated two-bedroom, two-bath apartment costs about $2,600 a month.  It also has a garage for parking. 

Her Chestnut Street apartment has no parking.  While there are spaces in front of it, they are metered and have a two-hour limit.

She said the building is located in an area of the city where the homeless gather.  One time, she said, a makeshift homeless camp was set up in back of the building and on occasion has had to shoot away drug addicts.

Since she received the letter, she has been looking for another apartment but has had no luck.  One problem, she said, is that landlords want tenants’ monthly income to be three times the rent.  

Azibert’s only source of income is Social Security.

For the past six to eight months, she said, the New Hampshire Emergency Assistance Rental Program has been covering her rent.  She has to reapply every three months for that assistance and is waiting to hear back from them after informing them of her rent hike.  

With the vacancy rate for apartments in Manchester so low, landlords have the upper hand.  And, there is no law in New Hampshire to prevent landlords from increasing rents by whatever amount they choose, including doubling it. 

Azibert wrote the mayor about her situation and said a staffer got back to her but said there was really nothing they could do.  She said she also wrote the Governor but said she never got a response.

She has contacted Families In Transition hoping to get on their two-year-long waitlist .

 Azibert said she also contacted an attorney but was told there was nothing that could be done because there are no laws to protect tenants in New Hampshire.

“There’s no safety net,” she said.  “Nothing whatsoever.”

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative as part of our Race and Equity Initiative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.