Rent Control Changes Discussed for Eatontown

With somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of its residents paying rent, the Borough of Eatontown is in the unique position of having to address the needs of both landlords and tenants.

On the one side of the fence, there are residents like Dana Spencer who lives on a fixed income and has about $8 to spare each month after paying the $459 rent to Pine Tree Mobile Village, where she’s lived for 10 years.

“I can’t afford an apartment in Eatontown,” she said, “that’s why I’m in a mobile home.”

Then there’s a representative for Woodlawn Village on Route 35 who said that since the borough’s 2007 rent control ordinance went into effect, landlords have “eaten” every tax increase.

The Tenant Rights Committee met on May 18 to discuss concerns raised by landlords and to determine whether it should make a recommendation to the borough council to amend the ordinance.

Landlords agree that the current rent control ordinance needs to be amended so that renters share a greater portion of tax and utility costs.  Property owners also would like to see a tweaking of the formula for calculating rent increases and clearer language in the ordinance to better define what capital improvements increases can be passed on to renters.

But that doesn’t sit well with Spencer, who is a member of the borough’s Tenants Rights Committee. “You want to pass that tax pass through to me?” she asked at the Wednesday night meeting. “I didn’t get a cost of living increase.”

According to Borough Attorney Gene Anthony, Eatontown has residents living in 12 large apartmet complexes and three mobile home parks. He noted that many of those tenants are either senior citizens or younger people at the bottom of the professional ladder.

Representatives for a number of apartment complexes and mobile home parks in the borough said at the meeting that rent increases don’t keep pace with inflation. They also feel there’s an inequity that tenants only shoulder the tax burden when there’s a 20 percent increase over the previous year. Added to that, landlords said this “rate of return” makes it challenging to finance improvements.

“We simply don’t have the revenue stream,” said a representative for Morgan Properties that manage Eatoncrest Apartments.

“We are asking that tenants be put in the same position as everyone else,” said Chris Hanlon, an attorney representing United Mobile Home, of requiring tenants to share in the tax burden. While “none of us like paying taxes,” Hanlon noted, “it’s the right thing to do.”

Hanlon, who said he represented about 80 properties statewide, noted that Eatontown’s ordinance is one of the most “restrictive” in the state as most ordinances allow for some type of tax pass through and use a rent increase formula that rounds up the Consumer Price Index.

“The point of giving increases is to encourage landlords to make long-term improvements,” said Hanlon.

Spencer is not opposed to amending the ordinance to make rent increases more equitable for landlords.

“The ordinance as it stands is imperfect,” she said. “There’s got to be wiggle room on both sides.”

“I don’t think you’re asking for the moon,” she said to the landlords sitting around the table, “maybe we can hand you a few stars.”

The Tenant Rights Committee holds regular meetings at 7:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month in the Council Caucus Room of Borough Hall at 47 Broad Street.