Northampton Tenants Union, 126 King St. tenants call for good faith negotiations

Northampton Tenants Union and tenants of 126 King St. gathered on July 10 calling on their landlords to negotiate in good faith following recent rent increases.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis

NORTHAMPTON — After experiencing rent increases and maintenance concerns, tenants at 126 King St. stood outside the Hampshire Property Management building to demand that their landlord and property managers negotiate in good faith.

The gathering was part of a press conference with the Northampton Tenants Union during a scorching hot day on July 10.

Tenants at the property claimed that the rent increases they experienced this year are unfair and will push many of them out of the city. In June, tenants demanded that their landlord, Michelle Sun Hong, negotiate with them in an effort to roll back rent increases, set a reasonable schedule for when future increases might come, and establish inspection and maintenance standards for the air conditioning systems.

Hampshire Property Management Group declined to comment to Reminder Publishing about the claims made by tenants at the press conference, and Sun Hong could not be reached for comment.

Tenants claim that Sun has skirted tenant law, entered apartments without warning and avoided negotiations regarding the increases.

“I’m here today because stable, functional affordable housing is a right, and because landlords will almost never respect that right unless they are made to do so,” said Colin Weinstein, a member of the Northampton Tenants Union. “King Street tenants knew that to afford to live in the town where they work and not get hit with unexpected rent increases, they were going to have to negotiate with their landlord … That is all we are here today to ask: that Michelle Sun sit down and negotiate with the people that pay her thousands of dollars a month.”

Tenants said that after previously being ignored by Sun Hong, Hampshire Property Management finally agreed to a meeting the week before the press conference. When meeting time came, however, Sun Hong did not physically show up, and she instead had another employee put her on speakerphone during the meeting. According to tenants, after only a few minutes, Sun Hong hung up while a tenant was speaking.

Specifically, many tenants have been faced with a 6-9% increase to their rents. Tenants also noted that a vacant 2-bedroom unit that was posted for $1,600 in 2025 has now been posted for $2250, which tenants say is another example of the unfair hikes to rent pricing they’ve been presented with.

Tenant Maia Penuel shared claims during the press conference that Sun Hong had at one point entered into their apartment to inspect the property without any notice and walked into Penuel’s bedroom while they were sleeping in their boxers.

“At the time, I didn’t want to be labeled the troublesome tenant for complaining, so I moved on,” Penuel said. “When our tenants association formed several months later, organizing with my neighbors taught me that this incident felt violating because it is a violation of my rights to privacy and security in my own home.”

Penuel’s roommate, Milla Wenick, shared the same claim and said that tenants of 126 King St. want Sun Hong to sit down with them to negotiate new lease terms instead of leaving them in the dark.

“All of our proposed lease terms, including predictable rent increase schedules, clear communication about repairs, yearly HVAC inspection, come directly from real issues that we have been affected by. We’ve repeatedly asked her to work with us, and we have told her that we are open to good-faith compromises on our ask. Yet after trying again and again, I still have only seen her face that time when she barged into our bedroom,” said Wenick. “We’re not just negotiating for ourselves, but so that future neighbors and tenants of our building can have more housing security as well.”

Tenants also made claims that a property manager has entered multiple units to perform unannounced, non-urgent fire alarm testing, which set off alarms throughout the building. They also said that the property manager used their key to unlock tenants’ homes when they did not immediately answer the door. Tenants said they are demanding recognition of their rights to reasonable notice and privacy in their own homes.

One tenant named Elsa read a statement on behalf of her neighbor Silas, who could not attend. In the statement, Silas reiterated the call for both Sun Hong and Hampshire Property Management Group to come to the negotiating table and to stop avoiding these concerns from tenants.

“Today, we’re here to ask for a simple thing. The ability to talk to our landlord face to face and negotiate a fair lease and fair rents,” the statement read. “When I received a $150, or 9% rent increase earlier this year, I did not even know the name of the person who was asking me to pay so much more of my grad student income in rent. Instead, our landlord pays Hampshire Property Management Group to act as a middleman so she doesn’t have to face the people she’s pushing into housing precarity.”

Despite the repeated requests for a bargaining meeting, tenants say Sun Hong and Hampshire Property Management have refused to negotiate collectively with tenants in good faith. Tenants also said that the property manager denied having the authority to negotiate and emphatically refused to set up a meeting with Sun Hong.

In another recent meeting on Zoom, tenants say that Sun Hong’s lawyer declined to negotiate lease terms while Sun Hong herself watched with her microphone and camera off.

Also in attendance and speaking at the press conference were members of Springfield No One Leaves and the Easthampton Tenants Union, who were both in support of the King Street Tenants. At the conference, they called for continued efforts in bringing rent control to the state following the state’s Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to block a rent control ballot measure. Northampton tenants shared similar sentiments, adding that without protections, tenants are left vulnerable to predatory rent increases.

“Michele Sun is one person who is in charge of so many people’s lives. She determines whether we get to live here and work here. She can’t even be bothered to meet with us. Apparently, we don’t get that right,” said Emily, another tenant of 126 King St. “She and Hampshire Property Management Group have dodged us, ghosted us, ignored us, and lawyered up instead of negotiating with us for incredibly reasonable asks. We are here to put public pressure on Michele. Apparently, us asking nicely for our landlord to negotiate with us is not enough.”