The owner of Ruckus Donuts posted on Facebook Monday that his landlord unexpectedly raised rent for the shop and that it could mean “the beginning of its end in Rockland.”
Todd Bross opened Ruckus Donuts on Main Street in Rockland in 2021, and the shop serves unique brioche-style doughnuts with flavors such as vanilla chai latte and raspberry coconut chip.
“Ruckus Donuts is facing an issue that to be honest may be the beginning of its end in Rockland. An issue I feel powerless to do anything about, but yet in my marrow feel I am in the right,” Bross said in his Monday Facebook post.
His business’ lease expired at the end of April, and he said he decided to extend it another two years. The lease included a paragraph that required the landlord to notify him of a proposed increase at least 60 days before its expiration, according to Bross. But he said Ruckus Donuts received written notice from its landlord only three days before the lease expired that the new lease would have a 14 percent rent increase in the first year, and a 3 percent increase the second year.
Bross said he has until Thursday to sign it or become a month-to-month tenant.
“This is a plea for help. I am faced with either accepting our landlord completely ignoring their contractual obligation to notify us and jacking our rent last minute, or not signing the Addendum and in effect allowing them to charge whatever they want,” Bross said in the post.
When contacted by the Bangor Daily News, Bross declined to comment further.
A representative of the landlord, Home Counseling, Inc., who declined to provide their name when reached by phone, said the company gave Bross 60 days notice because the new lease was provided to him in April, and the rent increase is going into effect on July 1.
The landlord’s representative said the new monthly rent price will be $1,875.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
