LUDLOW, Mass. – Residents at the West Street Village Mobile Home Community are taking legal action against the Ludlow Rent Control Board after their landlord raised the rent on people living there.

Several park members were at the Springfield Housing Court last week in protest, saying they believe a price increase of 150% is too high.

"The rent increase went up is kinda of hard because I've had 17 surgeries," said resident Kevin Vogel. "And now I've gotta play all my medical bills, including this one here."

"It went up to $207 like 15-16 years ago, and then it jumped from $207 to $503.06, and that's too big a jump for people," said resident Joseph Young.  "People living here are low-income, poor, disabled, on a fixed-income. They can't afford all that."

Property landlord Tom Lennon told Spectrum News 1 Monday when he bought the land in 2021, it needed several repairs. Lennon said while most of the residents own their homes, there is a fee to park on the lot.

Lennon said he did tell residents he would first cleanup the area to make it more livable before eventually charging more. Among other changes, Lennon said he installed a new mailbox, paved the roads and built a new fence around the perimeter.

But residents say that they don't believe the work done justifies the increase.

"If you're gonna have a perspective of increasing this kind of rent, produce something, make it worth it," said resident Daniel Ferry. "He said he was going to pave every driveway. Mine is. I paid for it."

"It hasn't been that bad. He has been doing stuff we asked for, so I can't argue with that part," said Vogel. "But it is harder with the rent increase. Definitely in the wintertime, he only does it once, he plows here once."

Lennon said while the rent itself may have been relatively low for decades, it came at the cost of not being enough to maintain the property. But some residents believe Lennon is not being transparent about the cost of maintenance.

"As long as all the paperwork is honest and there is no lies at all," said Young. "And he can prove his Information, than we can go up a little bit, But if he can't prove anything, then it shouldn't have gone up."

"If you want to increase it here for some improvements," Ferry said. "OK, 50 bucks a month. About right? Yup. Not double. It went from $207 from $503.06. What is with the 6 cents? It doesn't make any sense."

Lennon wants to remind residents that the mobile homes are affordable housing, not low-income housing.

As far as the court action, Lennon and residents say a final decision has not been made and were told another court date will likely be scheduled later this year.