Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A Little Awkward Indeed

Attorney Larry I've-got-a-secret Farber 1/31/13 ZBA Meeting


So yes, I was tempted to scream at this point in the meeting (or assume a lotus position and self immolate).  But I figured the sparsely attended meeting was being recorded by Amherst Media, so at some point the whole world could see -- and hear. 



Of course one thing the Grandonicos wish to keep secret is the provision that ties students into a 15 month lease (June 1 through August 31 the following year) that spans two summers. 

Thus the average UMass student, who does not live in Amherst year round, pays for 15 months but only gets 9 months worth of use.

Or they could spend $450 each to get out of the last three months.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

larry,

A bit lost here. While a 15 month lease sucks, does this mean they are issuing overlapping leases or does one student pay for 12 months plus $450 and others pay the full 15?

Dr. Ed said...

Let me see if I get this straight -- they have a 15 month lease, for FIVE students, with another FIVE students signing a lease that begins the prior summer to the next year, which just happens to be 3 months remaining on the old tenant's lease.

So, essentially, they are renting it to no fewer than TEN STUDENTS when it legally can only be rented to four. And this isn't illegal -- because????

Notwithstanding the fact that I don't believe that a 15 month lease is even legal -- isn't there a rule/law that any real estate lease that is more than a year must be in full year increments -- they are engaging in a fraudulent and deceptive business practice.

And this is the chair of your Chamber of Commerce. And you wonder why the students have no respect for your town. Might it be a thousand individual cases of stuff like this that is part of the answer?????

Anonymous said...

She WAS the President of the Chamber of Commerce, not the chair. Her term ended and someone else is now the President. It's always good to have your facts straight, because facts matter, Ed, as you like to remind us.

Nevertheless, I think it's a total embarrassement to the Chamber that someone of Kathy Grandonico's character was President. Someone should run Lincoln Real Estate out of town. They have acted unscrupulouly for many years.