NEWS
City Council to vote on ordinance aimed to protect tenants
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by Tom Schalmo
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The Madison City Council will vote tonight on a new photo ordinance aimed to protect tenants from being overcharged by landlords.
The ordinance, proposed by Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, would require landlords to show photographic documentation of damages charged to tenants at the end of their lease.
With a large student population in his district, which includes and surrounds much of the UW campus, Judge is calling on students to attend the meeting to voice their support.
“The photo ordinance strikes at the heart of one of the most important issues the city deals with: tenant rights,” Judge said. “There have been some infringements in those rights. Both students and property owners have noticed violations.”
The ordinance was proposed as a result of some cases of exaggerated charges deducted from tenants’ security deposits.
The Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin endorsed the plan. Executive Director Nancy Jensen expects every member of council will vote for the ordinance.
“This takes the ‘he says, she says’ out of any withholding discussion,” Jensen said. “Hopefully it will reduce the number of cases that go into our court systems. Things can be much more black and white and determining through photographic evidence.”
However, Jensen said only a small number of landlords currently do violate tenants’ trust, adding the ordinance would prevent this issue from becoming a bigger problem.
Judge said the issue extends beyond just the student population, as alders from districts throughout the city have witnessed landlords unnecessarily charging tenants.
Jensen said she and Judge have discussed creating a rate-your-property website, similar to ratemyprofessors.com. There, student tenants could literally rate the service and responses of their landlords.
“We’re looking for ways we can build stronger student consumers,” Jensen said. “I think you’ll see us doing some more things in the future.”
The city will continue to work on initiatives to protect tenants, Judge said.
“There’s so much opportunities to make Madison one of the premiere places not only to rent property but to be a property owner,” Judge said. “We can really make sure the industry is Grade-A, a five-star industry.”
In addition to the ordinance’s passage, Jensen hopes as student tenants move out, they will become more involved in the checkout process.
“It is really important that residents attend a checkout, that they meet with the property manager and check out together,” Jensen said. “They are really missing a learning experience by not going through that checkout, that walk-through process when they check out of apartments.”
The City Council will meet tonight at 6:30 in Room 201 of the City-County Building at 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
— Cara Harshman contributed to this report.
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 6:28am):
good call judge
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:21am):
and to think that i was looking forward to jsm screwing me like a rabid animal when my lease ends...must be because i haven't gotten any in awhile
Anonymous (April 8, 2008 @ 10:43pm):
how about passing an ordinance for the ridiculous rent prices downtown?? how are students supposed to pay for high rent AND tuition?? It's not like i'm being rented a 5 star condo, most places downtown are falling apart and aren't even worth half the asking price.
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