Gary Rogers, who faced eviction after refusing to pay a 90% rent increase imposed by his landlord in 2024, can stay in his apartment and continue to pay his previous rent, a jury decided Thursday.
Rogers lives in a third floor one-bedroom apartment on 22 Sargent Ave. in Somerville as a tenant at-will. He has been paying $1,150 in monthly rent since Dec. 2023.
The 14-person jury’s verdict followed three days of witness testimony. Jurors found that the landlord, Ryan Pinto, did in fact terminate Rogers’ tenancy through his issuance of notices to quit. But the jury also found that Pinto and his property manager created a new tenancy by accepting Rogers’ $1,150 rent checks and not reserving their right to accept payments as “use and occupancy,” not “rent.” So, while Rogers’ May 2017 lease is now expired, the establishment of a new tenancy invalidates the original eviction case – Pinto would need to file a new eviction case based on Rogers’ new month-to-month tenancy…