Greenwich, CT multifamily - 10+ year teanants - raise rent questi

[Mike Adams]

We purchased a 3-unit multi-family in 2019 which have two HAP tenants who've been there for 10+ years. We fought to get a rent raise last year since it was about a 120.00 jump per unit, which we finally received. Believe it or not, the HAP rep. was about to throw both tenants out due to the rent request; but decided against it during COVID. We are now having to go through recertification in about a month, but there are two issues. One, the previous owner, the genius that she was, leased both units as two bedroom, when each have three.  The second issue is that we cover the utilities for both units.  The bills for November and December are pretty high. We installed Ecobee thermostats and had the utility company conduct an energy audit, but there's really nothing else we can do.

We are receiving around $2325.00 per unit per month. The utilities for each unit run about $250.00 - $300.00 per unit until around April. It then goes down to $120.00 - $150.00 per month.

It was great to have the HAP contract through the moratorium, but with the increased utility costs, our hands are tied. I do not believe they will agree to another 125.00 a month increase to that helps to level out the utilities. We really need around $200.00 a month increase to cover the utilities in both units. The tenants can sign up for utility assistance and have that covered separately, but do not want to do so.

What do you think the best course of action is? We'd prefer to keep them, but the utility spike in Connecticut has been around 15%.