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Broken windows, appliances lead to ‘worst’ honors
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Also by Mary Duke:
- Broken windows, appliances lead to 'worst' honors (April 30, 2008)
- Homefield advantage (April 14, 2008)
- From panties to video games (April 1, 2008)
- Student wins fame for civil rights documentary (February 11, 2008)
- It’s ‘like driving to California’ (January 28, 2008)
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- Have the worst landlord? Tell Student Tenant Union (April 16, 2008)
- Worst house contest begins (March 13, 2003)
- Unofficial worst downtown apartment (May 6, 2003)
- Winter regulations in place for landlords (October 20, 2001)
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by Mary Duke
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
An advertisement for University of Wisconsin junior Karley Gifford’s apartment might read: “For only $665 a month, you can have your very own molding walls, broken windows, frequent break-ins and pet rodents! (Internet, cable and oven not included.)”
According to the University of Wisconsin Student Tenant Union, the apartment, which is this year’s winner of the organization’s Worst House in Madison Contest, gained its attention right away.
The STU sponsors the competition, which features prizes of gift certificates and a building inspection to raise awareness and put public pressure on landlords to keep up their properties.
Jason Wargolet, a member of the Student Tenant Union, said he was taken aback when he read Gifford’s description of her living situation at the five-unit house at 617 Mendota Court, managed by landlord Patrick Corcoran of Patrick Properties.
“My first reaction was ‘Wow, I feel bad for her,’” Wargolet said. “Her landlord obviously has no concern for her health or safety.”
The junior from Wisconsin Rapids said she couldn’t say what the worst part about living in the apartment building was.
“When I have friends over they just leave beer cans lying around and treat my place like trash,” Gifford said. “I love my friends and cannot get mad because this place is trash.”
Pests are one of her many worries, she said. Gifford, who claims she won’t even touch a spider, is terrified when rodents decide to feast on her food.
“I’ve had to move everything off the counter,” she said. “I’ve learned I can’t keep any food out.”
Another major problem in the kitchen are her appliances: Gifford said she is forced to avoid making meals that require heating up the oven because it is broken.
Gifford’s apartment was also broken into twice in the past week, she said, by an intruder who was able to reach through a broken door pane and unlatch the door. Gifford was not at home on either instance.
“I don’t think he stole anything. He just rearranged a few things,” Gifford said. “But having this happen right after the Doty incident makes me wonder why he was really breaking in,” she added, referring to UW junior Brittany Zimmermann, who was found slain in her home earlier this April.
Gifford said she was unable to contact her landlord about the broken door pane and that he only responded when the police called him.
Wargolet said when the Student Tenant Union called the housing inspectors to set up an appointment for them to confirm that Gifford’s house was in bad shape, they learned that the police had already put in an immediate request for the inspectors to come by.
After Gifford called the cops, she said her landlord sloppily boarded up the door pane with a slab of wood.
Looking back, Gifford admits she did not know what to look for when picking her first apartment but swears she has learned her lesson.
“Next time I am looking for a place to live, I will only rent from a landlord with a good reputation,” Gifford said.
Gifford said she cannot estimate how much time and money she has put into various renovations to her apartment in order to make it somewhat livable. According to Gifford, she had to recruit friends and family to help her clean the place when she moved in.
Despite her efforts, Gifford said there is always something either broken or breaking.
“For a while, I had to shower at friends’ houses because the shower water was so hard and unfiltered that my hair was falling out in clumps,” Gifford said.
Gifford also said she has spent lots of money on hair treatments to try to reverse the damage the water caused.
Gifford cringed when she recalled the two weeks during winter when the front door was continuously getting stuck and she couldn’t get into her home.
“Everyone in the apartment building would just ring each other’s door bells over and over to get in,” Gifford, “That was the worst, because I hate the cold.”
The building inspector who surveyed Gifford’s apartment Tuesday morning gave a long list of improvements that needed to be made by Corcoran. Among the suggestions was new drywall and flooring.
“Patrick was very nice at first,” Gifford said. “He said he would fix all the problems I saw in the apartment.”
But on the first day of her lease, Gifford said, she asked her landlord to replace a small patch of wallpaper by the front door and he refused to do so.
“[Corcoran] does the bare minimum,” Gifford said. “Just enough to get by.”
For winning the contest, Gifford received four gift certificates to Hawk’s Bar & Grill along with the opportunity to expose her landlord’s negligent behavior.
Charles Keycastl, STU member, said the objective of the contest was to highlight some of the serious problems student renters have on campus.
“Although it is limited to one person and one winner, it tells people that there is a problem here on campus that shouldn’t be tolerated,” he said.
Gifford said she hopes sharing her story will keep students from going through what she has been dealing with since her lease began last August.
“What this is really about is that UW students should not be taken advantage of,” Gifford said. “It feels really good to get somewhere with this contest.”
Correction: Due to a reporting error, this article erroneously said Corcoran did not return several phone calls seeking comment. The Herald did not make a sufficient attempt to interview the landlord and verify some of the complaints made by the tenant. We regret the error.
Due to a reporting error, this article erroneously said landlord Patrick Corcoran did not return several phone calls seeking comment. The Herald did not make a sufficient attempt to interview the landlord and verify some of the complaints made by the tenant. We regret the error.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 8:10am):
Is there a website where we can learn about the worst landlords in Madison?
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 8:27am):
This girl sounds like an idiot! Hard water damaged her hair? Oh, boo hoo!
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 8:47am):
Hmmmm.......thank you for the great pick of me. I don't think I'll ever want to be in the news again.
Jeff (April 30, 2008 @ 9:17am):
For starters, every house in Madison uses water from the Madison Water Utility. The only difference is if the water is softened or otherwise treated. Frequently only hot water is softened. For this tenant to blame her landlord for her hair falling out and to dis him in the press for that is foolish. There are thousands of houses in Madison with the exact same water. My guess is her hair is falling out for some other reason. Most likely stress from obessing over spiders or some such thing.
Rodents are attracted to food and trash. Many of the campus area residents fail to take the trash out each week. The girl in the story says she has learned she can't leave food out. No kidding. If you feed mice they will come back. If all the people that lived in the building took care of the trash and did not leave food out, it would help solve the problem. Instead it is the mean old landlord's fault. Take a walk around campus and look at all the trash you see that is not properly disposed of. This is what attracts rodents. Not bad landlords. Landlords just get stuck with the bill for getting rid of the rodents that the trash attracts.
It is interesting to note that there was no mention made of how the window was broken. This is another favorite pastime of drunken students. It is hard to imagine how she could live with a piece of peeling wallpaper. It most likely did not go well with all the empty beer cans in her place.
There are some legitimate complaints that the tenant has that need to be addressed, that is obvious. However if the tenants showed more respect for the properties year in and year out, maybe the landlords would be more inspired to keep the properties up. It is not fun to make repairs then drive by a property on a Saturday night and see a 1/2 barrel and 50 people in an apartment, using it for an underage drinking bar.
I think it would be appropriate for all the campus landlords to get together and chose a worst tenant of the year award. It will never happend. Why? It would just be soooooooo hard to chose. Would the Badger Herald print such a story, or would that be just way too mean. It is interesting to think about how it would feel for a student to be on the receiving end of this type of story instead of the landlord.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 9:24am):
just curious, why would you rent that place to begin with?
Rational Rational (April 30, 2008 @ 9:36am):
I bet the landlord is respnsible for the high gas prices too. While I'm sure there are some things that need immediate attention and the landlord needs to do a better job, more attention was made of the hard water and her hair than the locks. Hard water is a big city issue, not a landlord. The landlord is not responsible for her hair extensions or her hair falling out. This is SO rediculous.
J (April 30, 2008 @ 9:45am):
I wonder if some of these properties are such dumps because the students trash them year in and year out. It is not fun to fix up a property only to have it trashed.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 10:24am):
Certainly there is a worse landlord out there. The landlord doesn't control the water, people. I like how the hair extensions gets more coverage than the unsafe lock situation. And the comment about letting her friends trash the place? What is that all about? So the worst landlord rents to the worst tenant, sounds like a good marriage.
If anyone wants a good take on a landlord, call building enforcement and ask their opinion. they are the ones out citing landlords for violations and would have a record of EVERY building in town. 266-4551
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 12:05pm):
Anonymous 8:10 ... there is a file you can look through at the Tenant Resource Center. It contains reports, both good and bad, on most landlords and property management companies that operate in Madison.
You'll have to go in person though.
http://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 12:05pm):
Isn't that the old Skulls fraternity house?
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 12:38pm):
Oh boo hoo.. you're a jerk! You'd be upset too if your hair fell out in clumps! I feel bad for her.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 1:25pm):
I think there is a right way and a wrong way to call attention to problems with apartment renting/renters in Madison, and I don't think a contest that leads to obvious embellishment and hyperbole is a right way.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 2:03pm):
ur an uber hottie!!!
feel sorry for your situation.
Had pretty much the same treatment from Madison Property mgmt.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 4:59pm):
wtf is this? i graduated in '94 and her place is a palace compared to some of the dumps i lived in...
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 5:07pm):
"Gifford’s apartment was also broken into twice in the past week, she said, by an intruder who was able to reach through a broken door pane and unlatch the door." --- Maybe she should've reconsidered letting her address and lack of security get published in the paper and online for all sorts of people to see.
Anonymous (June 3, 2008 @ 4:10pm):
"Fix a small patch of wallpaper"???? You must be joking. You guys need to do some real investigating and find the baaaaaad landlords. Patrick sounds like one of the better ones, if you ask me.
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