Landlord group tells General & Housing committee court delays, rising costs and a ’Decker Towers’ pattern are worsening evictions

Angela Zajkowski, director of the Vermont Landlords Association, told the House Committee on General and Housing on Jan. 29, 2025, that landlords statewide are seeing longer court delays, rising operating costs and a pattern of tenants returning to neighboring units after evictions that she said is permitted under a Vermont Supreme Court decision.

Zajkowski said the state lacks a rental registry but estimated “about 75,000 to 76,000 rental units in the state of Vermont,” and that through October 2024 there were “a little bit over 1,800” evictions in court records. She told the committee those statistics are the only consistent court-based data the state has on eviction filings.

The landlord association director described several factors that she said have increased eviction pressure: an 18‑month eviction moratorium during the COVID‑19 period, large but time‑limited rental assistance programs that ended in 2022, and rising costs for property taxes, repairs and insurance. “Most…