Much of the student housing in Madison is close to a century old, and students should pay attention to repairs deemed necessary by housing laws, according to building-code-violation inspectors.
Building Code Violations housing-inspection supervisor George Hank said landlords often fail to make repairs in a timely manner to a tenant’s request.
“They are things that are considered to be standard everyday repairs that are sometimes not repaired quickly enough,” Hank said.
According to Hank, two common building-code violations by landlords are turning the heat on too late in the fall and off too early in the spring. He said tenants often complain that they are cold because their landlord has not turned on the heat. Another common problem Hank said he sees is failure by landlords to put in storm windows and screens.
Ald. Austin King, District 8, said he heard about many housing problems while campaigning door-to-door.
“Broken dishwashers (and) un-winterized windows and stairwells were frequent complaints,” King said.
Tenant Resource Center Program Director Megin Hicks said repair problems are common among student tenants. According to Hicks, tenants often call the Tenant Resource Center when they are unhappy with the initial condition of a new apartment.
“We get calls about the general problems,” Hicks said. “We hear about promises by the landlord to repair and doesn’t.”
If a tenant suspects his or her home has a building-code violation, such as not enough exits for all of the apartments, the director of Office of Communications for the Department of Commerce Safety and Building Division, Tony Hozeny, recommends filling out a form on his department’s website.
Once a complaint is filed, the Department of Commerce Safety and Building Division will evaluate the house, Hozeny said. He said if the problem is legitimate, the department will contact the tenant. If the problem is more of an issue between the landlord and the tenant, such as failure to repair a hole in the wall, the problem will be referred to the Consumer Protection Department.
When shopping for houses and apartments, Hank said students should check to make sure basement and attic bedrooms in the building are legal. In order for a basement bedroom to be legal, there must be properly sized windows, and an attic bedroom should have a second exit, he said. He said all of the city’s buildings are on file and open to the public at the Building Code Violations office on Martin Luther King Boulevard, past the Capitol.
“People can always check building files to see if the rooms are legal,” Hank said.
He said checking out the files is an effective way for tenants to see if they want to rent from a certain landlord. Records are kept that show whether a landlord reacted to tenants’ requests quickly or not, Hank said.
Hank added that student housing in Madison varies greatly in age. It is not uncommon for some housing to be over 100 years old and other housing to be less than a year old. Hank said tenants should watch for needed repairs when living in an older building.
“Everything wears with time and needs to be replaced,” Hank said. “Old buildings by nature require more work to maintain.”
Hicks said she recommends that once a tenant has a specific address in mind, he or she should call Building Code Violations and ask about previous violations. She also said it is important to actually see apartments before signing a lease in order to make sure they are safe and in good condition.
If a tenant would like a building inspection, he or she must call Building Code Violations with a specific question, Hank said. He said the office will not respond to general questions, such as, “I’m renting this apartment; would you come look to see if it is all right?”
Generally, he said, inspectors will go out once a legitimate problem has been established. Hank said inspectors ask tenants what is wrong with their home that the landlord has not fixed in a timely manner.
Some problems, such as pest problems and water damage in bathrooms, landlords typically say tenants have been responsible for.
“We rent to a lot of people who don’t know how to use a shower curtain, and water ends up being everywhere,” Hank said.
According to Hank, inspectors see a variety of strange things that keep their jobs interesting, such as the infamous toilet leak at a Palisades Apartment which cost its residents thousands of dollars in damage fees.
“There was a party on the top floor of a building and the toilet broke,” Hank said. “Water went through six stories of a new building.”
However, Hank said the most common tenant violation is removing the battery from smoke detectors. Batteries are most often removed during cooking or smoking, he said. He recommended pushing the battery back into the alarm.
