SUNDERLAND — In response to what residents at Cliffside Apartments say is a failure to provide proper maintenance, dozens have joined forces to create a tenant association.

Tenants said this week that maintenance requests for their apartments are routinely ignored or fixed with stop-gap measures and property owner NBM Management, which took ownership of the 248 Amherst Road complex last year, has raised the rent.

Ethan Salvesen, a University of Massachusetts Amherst student living at the housing complex, has been one of the leaders of the burgeoning tenant association, which has grown to include 65 members during the last couple of months. The association is now in the public outreach phase while its members chart out next steps.

“We want to continue to expand the union as much as possible, get as many people here on board as we can,” Salvesen said. “We’re also working with the Board of Health and regulatory bodies here in the commonwealth.”

A member of Cliffside’s leasing office declined to comment when reached by phone. An email sent to NBM Management was also not returned.

According to real estate transactions recorded through the Franklin County Registry of Deeds, the complex last sold in March 2022 for $50.5 million. A Sunderland Housing Plan published on the town website states the complex, located on a nearly 29-acre lot, was built in 1971 and includes 280 apartments.

The organizational form for a tenant association can depend on the size, purpose and functions of the group, according to documents outlining tenants’ rights on the National Housing Law Project’s website. Tenant associations can choose to incorporate and seek nonprofit, tax-exempt status or to organize as an unincorporated association.

“Tenant organizations range from small social groups to activist groups organized to serve as a negotiating unit for tenants in a particular project,” the housing and legal advocacy nonprofit’s website continues. “In addition, tenant groups can be organized to receive grant monies to operate social service programs for residents. Furthermore, the organizations can be resident management corporations or entities that ... perform certain management functions. In many cases, local tenant organizations have joined forces to form citywide, statewide or national organizations.”

Jesse Hudson, a Cliffside resident who works in Northampton, said he’s had “issues here since the very beginning” after moving to Sunderland in August 2022. Hudson said his apartment was dirty when he moved in and his appliances have broken, but have yet to be fixed.

“They just make money off of us and they keep cranking up the rent on an apartment that isn’t really that nice,” Hudson said, adding he pays $1,242 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.

Other issues, Salvesen added, are reports of mold that are not addressed immediately and broken windows not being replaced. Photos sent by him also show broken ceiling tiles in the bathroom and a cracked ceiling.

Devyn Faucher, another UMass student living at Cliffside for the last 15 months, said he got in touch with Salvesen in the last few weeks and joined the tenant association because its goals and the common problems shared among the tenants “resonated” with him.

“NBM Management, they’re making a lot of money off us,” Faucher said, adding that he has seen a lot of maintenance needs around the complex. “I figured I’d put my weight behind this little organization.”

As more members like Faucher and Hudson join the association, Salvesen said they are hoping to bring a positive change to their own apartment complex

“When tenants like us start working together to make these large organizations change,” he said, “I think that’s the only way we’re going to see anything positive come out of it.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.