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.