Zoning Board lodging house case draws concern

Despite a case being delayed by an absent petitioner, several citizens still voiced their concerns about his rental properties at Tuesday’s Zoning Board of Appeals hearing. 

At its June 3 meeting, the ZBA was prepared to hear an appeal by David Schwartz of Newton, who is appealing eight cease-and-desist letters he received from the Building Department last November about the continued operation of eight rental properties around Waltham. 

According to the letters, the properties — most of them scattered around Waltham’s South Side — have been being operated as illegal lodging houses. Under Waltham’s zoning code, section 3.26, lodging houses are locations where “rooms are rented to four or more persons not within the second degree of kindred to the owner” and require special permits to build in Waltham.

The letters recount that seven of the properties that received notices of violation on June 7, 2022 were unlicensed lodging houses. The department received additional complaints on October 5, 2023 about a “possible use of an illegal rooming house” at all eight properties. In June 2024, the department sent a notice of inspection to the properties, which it carried out that August.

The Building Department sent the cease-and-desist letters in November. It determined — based on online listings for each residence advertising individual rooms “to unrelated individuals” — that the properties were operating as unlicensed lodging houses.

Multiple residents came to testify at the ZBA meeting, including City Councilors Cathyann Harris and Robert G. Logan. The ZBA determined it would not be able to hear testimony in favor of or against the case that day, since Schwartz was unable to attend and present the case due to illness, and asked affected residents to send the board emails with their concerns, or attend the rescheduled hearing on July 15. 

Harris, who represents Ward 8 on the South Side, asked the board to confirm the cease-and-desist order was still in place. She said she’d heard concerns from constituents neighboring the named property. “They’re living next to what otherwise shouldn’t even exist,” she said. “It’s very disruptive to neighborhoods, quality of life.”

This language echoes the wording of the cease-and-desist letter pertaining to 659 South Street, which writes that Waltham’s zoning codes for these neighborhoods have to do with preserving “sanctity and quiet enjoyment within single-family zoning districts.”

Reza Mohammed, a Waltham resident who lives diagonal from the property at 139 Adams Street, additionally wrote to the board with concerns about neighborhood property values around the properties.

Eight letters are addressed to Schwartz for each of his eight properties, although the ZBA names a separate limited liability corporation as owner for all but one of the properties. All eight properties are listed on the website of rental company GradBnB, which offers them as student rentals. 

Seven properties appear on the website of Avance Capital – a real estate investment group that renovates large properties near private universities for student rentals.The company’s website lists Brandeis among its “target markets,” and a February 2023 blog post on the site indicates that the company intends to acquire “up to 15 multifamily properties in Waltham.” The corporate website lists Schwartz as its CEO. 

One other resident spoke up asking the board to investigate an additional house in Waltham that is not listed in on either site.