Lawyer explains leases at Highbank Apartments offer them little recourse
SOMERS POINT — Residents of a bayfront apartment complex are scrambling to find housing while working to determine whether the eviction notices they recently received are legal and enforceable.
Those living in the 17-unit Highbank Apartments at 90 Broadway, which front Great Egg Harbor Bay just west of John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, received a letter dated Sept. 6 from property owner John Folz titled “Notice of Tenancy Termination.”
“As you are aware, the property has been on the market for some time. This being said, the time has come, and the property is being sold. This letter serves as notice that the property is being sold and your tenancy for the premises located 90 Broadway … will terminate December 31, 2024. To help ease the burden of relocating, we will not be charging rent for November and December.”
On Sept. 12, a developer hoping to demolish the four buildings to make way for 24 townhouses, presented the plan to City Council, asking for a redevelopment agreement that would provide favorable zoning.
“The 24 luxury townhome units will be a better fit for the city,” attorney Keith Davis told council. “We would like to move forward in working with your professionals with a redevelopment plan to facilitate this project. We are asking for adoption of a redevelopment agreement to allow for favorable zoning.”
Folz, president of Point Property Holdings LLC, which bought the lot for $1.6 million from local real estate agent Alex Kazmarck in 2021, said having the tenants gone is a condition of the sale of the land. The property was listed for $3.2 million in September 2023.
“I bought the property with the intention of developing it,” Folz said last week, adding all of the tenants had month-to-month leases when he purchased it. “I never told anyone I planned to fix it up and be a landlord forever.”
Andy Frankel, 40, who has lived in C building with his wife since 2011, said they had a lease when Kazmarck owned the property but after Folz bought it, there never was anything in writing.
“He said the existing lease would be in effect, and we just change where we send the check,” Frankel said.
Another tenant, Debi Winterbottom, who has lived in the complex off and on for about 15 years, agreed.
“When he took over the property, he didn’t do it properly. When a landlord takes over a property they have to negotiate with whoever is the tenant, either to vacate or give them a new lease. Well, John did not do that,” she said. “He didn’t offer a lease to anybody.”
According to Brandon Walcott Esq., an Ocean City-based lawyer, when the terms of a lease expire and there is no extension, the lease defaults to a month-to-month term regardless of its previous length.
“What’s not great news is month-to-month leases are not as solid as yearly leases. You’re working with shorter time lines and the notice provisions are different,” Walcott said. “As long as he abides by the notice provisions in the lease, he can evict them.”
Regarding the offer to let the tenants live rent-free for November and December, Walcott said a document stating such would have to be signed by both parties to hold weight.
Frankel said he is suspicious of the offer to let them live rent-free for the last two months.
“That seems like an obvious trap,” Frankel said. “He is not a generous person. It dawned on me if we did not pay rent, he would have manufactured grounds to evict us.”
He said he intends to keep paying rent.
During public comment Sept. 12, city resident and planner John Helbig questioned the necessity for having the tenants out in less than four months. He said it could be two years before ground is broken for the project.
“These guys don’t even have plans done yet. They have to get a CAFRA permit, which is nine to 12 months minimum. They’re not looking to break ground for 18 to 24 months, minimum, by the time they have all of their DEP permits,” he said. “I don’t see why they are putting our residents in a situation where they have to be out in three months.
“Given the paucity of affordable housing in our area, I think that’s going to be a real hardship on folks who have lived there for a long time,” he said.
The residents enjoy waterfront views, a small beach and access to the bay. Many have kayaks outside their doors.
Frankel said he is worried about where the couple is going to move.
“It’s a daunting challenge. It’s an insane market out there. We have been looking since we got the letter and don’t see too much hope,” he said. “There’s little to be had and what there is is astronomically priced.”
Winterbottom said her rent is $1,100 per month for a 400-square-foot apartment with one bedroom. Current listings include a one-bedroom apartment at Mystic Point and Sea Aire Apartments for about $1,600. A similar residence goes for $1,499 at The Carriage House on New Road and for $1,750 at Groveland Apartments.
“He wants us out, I get it, but we just don’t have anywhere to go,” Winterbottom said. “There are 17 apartments … and I know every single one of these people in here can’t afford to go anywhere.”
Frankel said the tenants have been meeting and intend to fight the eviction.
“I don’t think we are just going to roll over,” he said.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff