St. Johnsbury tenant recounts prolonged housing problems, legal win

Maria Sussman, a tenant from St. Johnsbury, told the Vermont House General & Housing Committee on Feb. 6 she lived for months with failing electrical, plumbing and heating systems before securing help from Vermont Legal Aid.

"I won a lease, a year lease," Sussman told the panel, describing a nearly year‑long legal process that yielded a lease, repairs to major defects and roughly $1,000 in compensation for pain and suffering. She said her unit’s electrical panel dates from 1928 and that chipping lead paint remains a concern.

Sussman said she initially could not contact her landlord and that a hired management company was slow to respond; she sought Legal Aid and worked with attorney Rachel Batterson, whom she credited with guiding the case. She also said an inspection by the health department, prompted by her filings, helped trigger repairs in her building.

Committee members asked whether neighbors had joined the action (Sussman said few did) and whether some tenants receive federal vouchers (she said some do). The committee acknowledged the testimonial value of Sussman’s experience for the pending landlord‑tenant legislation, Act 772, and thanked her for appearing in person.

No formal action was taken during her testimony; members used the exchange to clarify how health‑department inspections, legal aid and screening by cooperatives intersect with tenant protections and the hardship exceptions being discussed elsewhere on the agenda.