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One Meriel Marina Bay tenant took the management company to housing court. Then another.
Two walk out with agreements to let them break their leases. Others, who didn't go the same route, signed non-disclosure agreements to end them without penalty, tenants say.
Some frustrated tenants at the Residences at Meriel Marina Bay apartment complex in Quincy have broken their leases without financial penalty, but the deal comes with a catch.
They had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and a document releasing the management company and landlord of all liability, tenant Sandra Fernandez told Boston.com.
Fernandez said The Bozzuto Group, which manages the complex at 550-552 Victory Road, started offering the option after the Globe published a story on Dec. 27, 2023, about a tenant lawsuit against Marina Bay Residences, LLC, and the management company. The owner, builder, architectural firm, and subcontractors are arguing in separate suits about who is at fault for alleged design and construction defects.
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A public records request to the City of Quincy yielded 82 pages of complaints to the Health Department for alleged violations of the sanitary code at the Residences at Meriel Marina Bay. After conducting inspections, the city sent violation letters to the owners on some but not all of the complaints.
Fernandez’s neighbor Kathryn Keenan said she told Bozzuto she had an autoimmune condition when she moved into her unit. Not long after that, she noticed water leaking into her apartment from the exterior, which she knew could be a precursor for mold growth.
“By the time I’d been living in my apartment for seven or eight months, I’d filed 18 maintenance requests due to leaks,” Keenan said. She said an independent mold tester recommended professional remediation, but the management company disputed the results, offering to send people to wipe things down and vacuum instead.
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She eventually left and stayed with friends and in hotels.
“So I asked to break the lease, and they responded that it’d cost a total of $6,500 to $7,000 to break the lease with one month’s notice,” she said. “With two months’ notice I’d just have to pay one month’s rent.”
She refused and filed for a temporary restraining order in housing court.
On Jan. 9, she got her day in court, with Fernandez in tow for moral support. The judge asked her and Ted Papadopoulous, Bozzuto’s attorney, to meet with a mediator. After a half-hour or so, she said, Papadopoulous agreed she could break her lease without financial penalty and without signing the NDA or the liability agreement. It cost her a $100 filing fee and about 10 hours of her time.
Papadopoulous declined to comment for this story. Mariel Marina Bay issued the following statement when contacted by Boston.com:
“With our buildings still undergoing significant repairs, we continue to minimize, as much as possible, any impacts on our residents. As the repairs reach different parts of the buildings, we’re making rent concessions to residents to offset any inconveniences. For the small number of residents who want to re-locate, we’re using typical lease termination agreements with standard terms similar to those used at other properties. Nearly all of our residents have worked cooperatively with us through whatever issues they’ve had. With one resident, we were unable to resolve her early-termination issues before she stopped communicating with us and went to court. And even in that case, we accommodated most of her needs and she agreed to dismiss her case. It’s always our preference to resolve any issues cooperatively with our residents.”
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In a follow-up email after this story was posted, a spokesperson said they were offering to let people break their leases before the Globe story ran.
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Emboldened by news of Keenan’s success, neighbor Barbara Kelleher did the same. She filed for a temporary restraining order on Jan. 23 and went to court Tuesday. Papadopoulous offered her the same settlement agreement.
It was over in 10 minutes.
“I feel really good about this happening because I was anxious about having to go before the judge,” Kelleher said. “And it’s very good for the tenants who are going to start seeking this. It can be done without representation and without any kind of legal fees. A lot of tenants are afraid to come forward. They just don’t want to go through it. We’re basically just asking management to do what they should have been doing all along.”
Anna Israel, an acupuncturist who says she has a history of serious illness due to mold exposure, also asked to break her lease. Bozzuto said she had to sign the NDA to avoid the financial penalty.
Anxious to leave, she did.
But when she heard about Kelleher’s success, she consulted her attorney and then quickly backed out of the contract.
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She said she’s going to follow the trail that Keenan and Kelleher have blazed.
“I don’t have anything to lose, right?” Israel said. “I have nine air filters that cost a total of $9,000. They provide air purification down to 0.1 microns, and they run full blast all the time in my 711-square-foot apartment just so I don’t choke in my sleep. Mold kills people. It ruined my life and left me in debt. And I’m just thrilled that there’s finally some justice.”
Updated on Feb. 12.
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