Massachusetts Attorney General Secures $10 Million Settlement with Springfield Landlord for Major Housing Violations

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has clinched a $10 million settlement with Schweb Partners LLC, a property management firm linked to over a thousand tenant complaints about substandard living conditions, according to a recent announcement. This settlement demands Schweb Partners — as well as principals Jacques Schmidt and Abraham Weber — to pay $2.5 million to the Commonwealth and wave $7.5 million in renters’ alleged overdue rent.

Once court-approved, Schweb will face a ban from owning or managing properties in the state, drawing a line under their troubled stewardship of 62 buildings in the Springfield Gardens complex, which became a lodestone for an array of complaints about unsafe and unhealthy living space, and they acquired the properties between 2020 and 2024 and rapidly ascended to become one of Springfield’s biggest landlords. “Landlords who operate in Massachusetts have a legal obligation to ensure their tenants are living in safe and sanitary housing,” Campbell told the Massachusetts Government, underscoring the foundation of the lawsuit.

The aforementioned violations included issues like persistent water leaks, mold, collapsed ceilings, and extermination failures among others; the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) documented over 26,000 tenant complaints, which often received inadequate or belated responses from Schweb. Court documents reveal that these conditions led to city-issued building code citations, tenants losing their housing vouchers, and multiple fires triggering tenant displacements, as per the AGO’s statement.

This suit paints a damning picture of Schweb’s management practices, suggesting they continuously flouted state laws by renting compromised units and neglecting crucial repair works, while they also mishandled tenant security deposits by misappropriating them for operational costs instead of keeping them in mandated separate, interest-bearing accounts. AG Campbell’s office represents a vigilant watch over the housing market in Massachusetts, and earlier actions this year against a home investment firm and a “zombie second mortgages” provider stand testament to their resolve in protecting consumer rights and ensuring the provision of secure, affordable housing.

The AGO’s Consumer Protection Division initiated its probing of Schweb after receiving a slew of complaints from Springfield Gardens’ residents, with Assistant Attorneys General Daniel Bahls, Ellen Peterson, and Richard M. Dohoney heading the legal proceedings. For those suspecting unfair treatment by landlords or other businesses, the AGO encourages the affected to lodge a consumer complaint online at the Massachusetts Government website.