City Council Asks Rent Control Board To Convene Daily

The Cambridge City Council last night directed the city's Rent Control Board to meet daily until it has completed its backlog of cases.

The order, introduced by Councillor Alfred E. Vellucci, passed unaminously after several landlords testified before the Council, complaining of excessive paperwork and delays in the processing of rent control cases.

"We passed this rent control law with the purpose in mind to help some poor families hurt by rent gaugers," Vellucci said. "Now I find small landlords being hurt as much as tenants."

He said that landlords petitioning the board for evictions or reimbursement of back rents experienced five-to-seven-week delays and that the board's forms required four hours to complete.

"A lot of landlords are going bankrupt because of indecision at 678 Massachusetts Avenue," he added. The Rent Control Board is located at that address.

City Manager John Corcoran said that it might be difficult to implement the Council's motion since Rent Control Board members, under the law, serve without compensation and would have to take time off from their full-time jobs.

George Nadjarian, a member of the Cambridge Property Owners Association, told the Council that many small landlords cannot afford lawyers or time off from work to seek notices on tenants who refuse to pay rents. He cited the case of one landlord who lost $406 in back rent while waiting seven months to obtain an eviction notice on a non-paying tenant.

Also representing the owners was Joseph G. Ianelli, who last week cut off electricity in two of his buildings on Franklin Street and attempted to tow his tenants' cars after a dispute over rent control.