The Badger Herald

The owner of the property labeled “Worst House in Madison” by the Student Tenant Union last week is demanding a formal apology from the campus group for what he says “defamed” his name. 

Patrick Corcoran, owner of Patrick Properties, said the competition held by the STU was poorly executed and the statements regarding the property made by the STU and tenant Karley Gifford were inaccurate.

The STU members that voted on the winner of the competition had 12 written entries they seriously considered, according to STU Chair Joseph Lindstrom. In addition, only one voting member inspected one property, Gifford’s unit, which is one of five in the building at 617 Mendota Court.

“I don’t think it was much of a contest, considering they looked at one place,” Corcoran said in a sit-down interview with The Badger Herald Thursday. “If you call somebody ‘the worst of’ something, you’d better go check.”

Lindstrom, who was the only STU member to inspect the property, said the competition was judged fairly and the winner was agreed upon by a majority of the group. He added all the voters thought the description in Gifford’s e-mail was the worst, and he went to the property to verify if the description matched reality.

“We feel very comfortable with the decision we’ve made,” Lindstrom said. “I wasn’t going to go to all of them if I didn’t have to. I told them (the voters) it matched what it said.”

Corcoran, however, said there were numerous discrepancies between the actual condition of the building and the claims made by Gifford. He said there were false claims made about the presence of mold, a mice infestation, bad drywall and his refusal to replace torn wallpaper.

According to Corcoran, there is no wallpaper or drywall in Gifford’s unit, and the walls are made of paneling. He also said building inspector Robert Ales never mentioned he had a problem with the walls to anybody.

The Badger Herald obtained a copy of the building inspection papers, which has no mention of problems with the walls except for a small area that needed to be repainted.

Lindstrom said while the inspector did not find any violation with the condition of the walls, he said he was comfortable saying “the walls in there are terrible.”

According to the inspection, there was also no mold found in the building. Instead, Corcoran has to replace ceiling tiles that have water stains before June 1, according to the inspection papers.

Corcoran said the inspector told him the most unsafe thing he found in the apartment was that the smoke detector was taken off the ceiling and the battery taken out, adding, “Who do you think did that?”

Lindstrom agreed all the violations found by the inspector were what are considered minor, but added “several minor violations can accumulate into an apartment that is difficult to live in and enjoy.”

Corcoran said STU acted unfairly toward him and ruined his name in the city.

“I think it was borderline malicious. … It was definitely malicious,” Corcoran said. “I am … insisting that I get a formal apology from Mr. Lindstrom for me and my family.”

He added he believes STU’s efforts are counterproductive to bettering relations between tenants and landlords.

Lindstrom said the main goal of STU right now is to inform students of their rights as renters, though they are working on finding ways to point out the efforts of “good” landlords. He added STU will likely not apologize to Corcoran.

“The way he’s responded has only made me more glad that we picked him,” Lindstrom said. “I think Patrick Properties will be mad at the Student Tenant Union for a long time.”

Ales, the inspector responsible for writing the report, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment Friday.