Years Of Rent Payments ​“Disappear”

Tenants at an Edgewood apartment complex learned they may owe up to tens of thousands of dollars of rent payments they’d already made — while their landlord investigates acknowledged ​“inconsistencies” and ​“inaccurate” bookkeeping.

The whole episode has tenants up in arms at the affordable-housing complex, Beechwood Gardens, a cluster of 82 brick townhouse apartments on a block bordered by Whalley Avenue and Pendleton, Eldert, and Hubinger streets.

A new company assumed ownership of the property following the 2011 death of developer Wendell Harp.

Tenants who moved in since then told the Independent they never obtained a lease and they paid the property manager with cash or money orders.

Earlier this month, they received ​“past due” letters from the new owner, VestA Corporation of Weatogue, Connecticut. The past due amounts included in some cases years of rent they said they’d already paid.

VestA’s vice-president told the Independent Wednesday that the company has assured tenants that as long as they pay their current rent, no one will be evicted. Meanwhile, he promised to work with the tenants to collect documentation about past payments in order to get to the bottom of this expensive mystery of the missing records and questioned payments.

Longer-term tenants received past due letters from VestA, too — for years worth of sewer and water bills. They said they hadn’t received those bills since Wendell Harp’s Renaissance Management company ran the complex.

Tenants from seven Beechwood Gardens households said in interviews this week that they’re not paying.

Some tenants have enlisted the help of New Haven Legal Assistance Association attorney Amy Marx. They’ve also brought their complaints to the Livable City Initiative (LCI), New Haven’s anti-blight agency. LCI chief Serena Sanjurjo-Neal, noting that the complex has received state assistance to help keep rents affordable, said she’s in the process of arranging meetings to get to the bottom of the situation. The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) gave VestA $121,325 earlier this year for emergency roof and plumbing repairs. VestA is currently in discussions with CHFA about financing a ​“full rehabilitation” of the complex.

“Why Are You Here?”

One tenant, Wanda Dawson, who pays $675 a month along with her husband to rent a two-bedroom unit, said a VestA representative visited her apartment a few weeks ago with an odd question.

“She said, ’ Why are you here?’” Dawson recalled.

“Because I live here,” Dawson said she responded. ​“Look around. It’s furnished. Am I not supposed to be here?”

Dawson said she was told the apartment was supposed to be vacant.

“How do you pay your rent?” the representative asked.

“Cash. Money orders,” said Dawson (who happens to be the mother of champion New Haven boxer Chad Dawson).

“You’re not supposed” to do that, she was told.

Wendy Hoyle, who has lived at Beechwood for two years, received a letter stating she owes over $4,000. She, too, said she paid her rent in cash and money orders to the property manager. She claimed that her signature had been forged on a letter promising to pay that amount.

Laflor Edwards, a certified nurse assistant, has lived at the complex for nine years. She stopped receiving sewer or water bills about three years ago, she said. Now she has a past-due letter from VestA saying she owes the company more than $500 to repay old bills.

The same letter was sent to Jerre Davis, a 20-year Beechwood tenant.

“They’re trying to make us pay the sewer bill from two years ago,” she said. ​“They paid the bill. I’m not going to pay this.”

VestA: We’ll Work It Out

VestA Vice-President Chuck Moran sent Beechwood tenants a follow-up letter on Sept. 15 updating the situation.

“Recently you received a letter asking you to confirm an amount currently reflected on our records as rent you owe. The reason we sent this letter is due to some inconsistencies caused by the former property manager and we know that our current record keeping is in many cases inaccurate.

“It is our intent and plan to work with each and every resident to correct any inaccuracies and make sure that our records accurately reflect payments that have been made. It is not our intent to unfairly treat any resident and any inappropriate actions by our former manager will not negatively affect your housing.

“We apologize for this confusion and any anxiety it might cause. We need to start with the balances currently reflected in our system, work with you to get missing payment information and ultimately make sure your rental account accurately represents your payment history. … [P]lease be assured that any past amount shown as owed will not affect your housing nor will we be seeking payment until the number can be accurately and fairly corrected.”

The letter did not assuage Tara Walters, who has lived at Beechwood Gardens for three years.

“They sent that letter to try to pacify us. We want a meeting” with VestA management. ​“They haven’t been talking to us. We deserve the respect of talking to us.”

Moran said in an interview that staffers have been meeting one on one with tenants to try to collect information. She said VestA is paying for tenants to collect documentation of past money orders. He said a tenant meeting will take place.

He also said the company doesn’t know yet why tenants hadn’t received sewer and water bills. Those bills are supposed to go directly to them, he said. He promised VestA will pay back bills to the water and sewer authorities, but said tenants will be responsible for the obligations.

He stressed that the company remains in the initial ​“information-gathering” stage. He said the company doesn’t know yet if money was stolen; if it was, the company intends to contact the police.

The Independent reached the former property manager at the center of the controversy by phone.

She said she didn’t want to discuss the matter for publication; she denied the tenants’ allegation. She claimed she’s still working for VestA, in another office.

“Oh no,” Moran said, when asked about that. ​“She doesn’t work for us.”