M. Fishman Is Evicting Some Logan Square Tenants Who Can't Pay Higher Rents
By Mae Rice in News on Apr 5, 2016 9:25PM
In late March, Logan Square residents took to the streets to protest steep rent hikes from M. Fishman and Co., a major West Side property management company. Now, tenants at Fishman's building at Sawyer Street and Milwaukee Avenue are beginning to receive eviction notices. Noah Moskowitz, a community organizer with Somos Logan Square, told Chicagoist that some tenants in the 80-unit building at 2704 N. Sawyer received eviction notices March 30 and 31, giving them 30 days to vacate their apartments.
Like Fishman's rent hikes, Moskowitz said, the eviction notices have been sent out piecemeal. Fishman bought this particular building in December 2015, according to Moskowitz, but Fishman can't raise a tenant's rent until his or her lease is up. Once a lease does expire, though, Fishman demands the tenant signs a new lease, committing to rent $300 to $600 higher per month than the previous lease's. "Tenants are [often] unable to pay it," Moskowitz explained—and those tenants are asked to move out.
Natalie Jose, a resident of a Fishman building on Sawyer (though it's unclear which one—he owns several on the street), was part of the cohort of tenants that received eviction notices from Fishman last week. "I cried when I got the notice," she told CBS. “I never thought I would be someone that would be evicted."
Fishman might not be able to legally evict her, though. Moskowitz said Somos Logan Square is working with a law firm, pro bono, to take M. Fishman to court for his rent hikes.
"These evictions are coming after tenants have made formal complaints about the conditions of the building," Moskowitz said, and hikes could arguably constitute "retaliation" for their complaints—which Moskowitz said include "lack of sufficient hot water, lack of sufficient heat [and] pest issues."
Tenants are also trying to negotiate with Fishman the old-fashioned way: face-to-face. Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa (35th), whose jurisdiction the building falls under, told CBS that he has asked Fishman's representatives to meet with tenants "organizing for fairness in this building." They have not been able to set a meeting date yet, Rosa said, but he added that he is pushing for rent control measures in local and state government to prevent future situations like this.
"He's been very supportive," Moskowitz said, of Ald. Rosa.