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Council lays over rent-stabilization appeal over garage-parking charge; tenants press that parking was part of original rent
Summary
Tenants at 1391 Hazelwood appealed a staff rent‑increase determination that treated a garage parking charge separately; the council laid the appeal over to Jan. 22 to allow staff and parties to provide additional documentation.
Tenants James W. Bush and Linda D. Deere appealed a rent-stabilization determination concerning an 8% rent increase that council staff recommended be applied to total housing services (including an attached garage rental). Tenants argued the garage was part of the original combined rent and that the landlord’s later separate garage charge should not be treated as a separate rent basis.
Marsha Moorman of the Department of Safety and Inspections explained city practice: housing services (the base used for allowable increases) includes parking, and in cases like this the staff calculation treats parking as part of the housing-services base. Moorman noted that a 3% increase had already been applied to a tenant's lease on Aug. 1 and that the city determination would apply to the next lease; she recommended allowing an up-to-8% increase inclusive of parking for the next lease year, while noting that complaints about past increases could be separately investigated by DSI.
Tenant James Bush, who said he had lived at 1391 Hazelwood for 23 years, told the council the apartment and garage had been leased together and paid as a single check for decades. "When I first rented the apartment, it was combined...I've been paying 1 check for the combined rent for the apartment and the garage," Bush said. Linda Deere said the way the charges were applied in 2024 would effectively raise their costs sharply.
The council heard testimony from building maintenance staff and the property owner’s representative, who explained long-term upkeep and restoration work and said the owner sought an administrative rent adjustment. Council Member Yang moved to lay the appeal over so staff could gather records and the council could examine the specific accounting of prior increases; the motion passed and the matter will return Jan. 22.
Action: Appeal laid over to Jan. 22 for further review and documentation. No final rent change was adopted at the Jan. 15 meeting.
