4 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN HOUSING
NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2006
Leasing creates problems for some
BY JACK WEINSTEIN
jweinstein@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Joan Pinnell quickly found out what she had gotten herself into. Last August the Wichita senior arrived at her newly rented house at 8 a.m. with five of her friends and their parents expecting to see her landlord with keys, waiting to usher them into the house. To their surprise, the landlord didn't show up. Pinnell, along with her friends and their parents, waited around until five o'clock that night before the girls could finally move in.
"All day we were stuck, we were homeless," Pinnell said.
For Pinnell and other students like
her, renting can be a hassle
Pinnell and her roommates were told that the previous tenants, another group of girls, would leave their keys behind. They didn't. The landlord was nowhere to be found.
"Three days go by, six girls, college town and no way to lock our house," Pinnell said. Nothing was stolen from the house.
That was the beginning of what became a tumultuous experience between the residents of the house and their landlord, Serena Hearn.
Pinnell said the house had mold problems in the living room and an upstairs bathroom, and she was told it would be taken care of before she and her roommates moved in. It wasn't.
After several phone calls and e-mails, the landlord finally consented, but it wasn't the solution Pinnell expected.
She said her bathroom went from an eggshell white to a deep purple. Pinnell said her bathroom walls were painted so the mold could be covered up. The mold was still there and it came back immediately.
"We're in the process of moving out right now and the mold issue was never taken care of" Pinnell said.
That wasn't the worst of it. The most dangerous problem was in the shower. A mysterious wire stuck out of a vent above the shower. The wire was crossing a water pipe that Pinnell said gave her a minor electrical shock.
"It only took me two times of doing that to realize that was scary crap," she said.
Pinnell's roommate, Kelly Cook, Wichita graduate student, had moved in before the other girls to sublease. She worked at Garber Property Management, 5030 Bob Billings Parkway Suite A. Her co-workers had grown tired of listening to her complain about the problems with her house, and advised her to call the city housing authorities to get the house inspected. So she did.
Two city housing inspectors showed up and inspected the house. They were completely appalled by the state that their house was in, Pinnell said.
The inspectors called the landlord and told her that she had to replace the
front porch, fix some electrical problems and solve the mold problem, Cook said. The inspectors also told the landlord that her house "wasn't a safe situation." Pinnell said the landlord was livid, and threatened the girls because they went behind her back. She also threatened legal action.
Jo Hardesty, managing attorney and director of Legal Services for Students said landlord-tenant cases made up the largest percentage of cases seen by Legal Services for Students.
Cook described the past year at her rental house as horrible. Landlords don't think students know the rules and think it's okay to take advantage of students.
SEE LEASING ON PAGE 5
LEASING TIPS
Students should consider the following tips before signing a lease. These could help reduce the risk of getting caught in a bad leasing situation.
Ask for a copy of the lease and the rules and regulations before something
signing anything
Make sure to read both carefully,
or take them to someone who can check them out for you. This is one of the main pitfalls that students fall into.
Check for an automatic renewal clause
This clause states a specific amount of time, decided by the landlord, in which a tenant must
request in writing to end the lease. Often times, students don't see this in the lease and assume they can move out, sometimes signing another lease before they realize they're already stuck with their previous one.
Check for a sublease clause Some landlords don't allow sub-
leasing, while others will charge a fee.
Application fees
If there are application fees,ask if they are refundable. If they are not, ask if they will be applied to the deposit.
Ask to see the actual apartment, not just a model
A model apartment is meant to be impressive, but that's not the apartment you're getting. Ask to see the actual one so you know right away if there is anything seriously wrong with it before you sign a lease.
Source: Jo Hardesty, managing attorney and director of Legal Services for Students