For as long as I've been a student here at the University of Wisconsin, college kids have struggled with landlords that don't care about their buildings or tenants. The biggest problem facing students is that landlords don't have to worry about customer satisfaction when they deal with young people because most college kids move from one apartment to another every year. The 2000 census found that 75% of college-age renters in Wisconsin had moved into their place of residence in the past year, while most older adults had lived in their buildings for at least the past five or ten years.
Roommate volatility and personal instabilities certainly contribute greatly to us moving around so much in our college years, but those who have bad landlords in their current buildings have a responsibility to inform the subsequent tenants. Conversely, it is in the best interest of a perspective tenant to investigate the potential flaws of a new building. Potential problems are not outwardly visible in a cursory five-minute guided tour with the apartment manager standing in the room.
Better communication in Madison's renter community would mitigate some of the problems college students face by forcing landlords and managers to be more attentive to their customers' needs. A website listing some Madison-area property management companies along with some comments about each one would empower students a great deal. The UW-Madison Campus Information and Visitor Center website (www.civc.wisc.edu) already lists available apartments and houses in the area, but it has no rating system.
There are several excellent information sources for students interested in getting a good deal when it comes to housing. About a year ago, the Herald published a story about the Tenant Resource Center (tenantresourcecenter.org), a group of tenant advocates right here in Madison. Their website has a lot of useful information for people with little experience renting. Specifically, it offers ideas about how to make wise decisions when entering into legal agreements with landlords.
The Dane County Landlord/Tenant Legal Resource Guide is also another document with information for both landlords and tenants. It is published by the government and offers some unbiased legal details in addition to practical information to help renters be more prudent when negotiating a lease. To find the legal resource guide, click on the link: "http://wsll.state.wi.us/branch/dclrc/."
After a tenant has entered into a lease, it is his or her responsibility to force the landlord to uphold the bargain. When the building needs maintenance, tenants must insist that the landlord attend to it in a timely fashion. Many college students are still learning how to be assertive and landlord negotiations are the perfect place for us to stand up for ourselves. Many times, requests for maintenance fall on deaf ears, so tenants must be persistent when asking for repairs. Calling many times, writing letters, and showing up in person to demand that the management uphold its end of the bargain will accelerate the process. It is unfortunate that so-called professionals who will charge a late fee for rent or tarnish a credit report at the drop of a hat are so unwilling to be reasonable when it comes to doing their job, and the tenant's options for recourse are severely limited.
Individual students can solve their own problems for themselves, but as a community, college kids need to come together to affect real change. ASM needs to step in and play an active role in looking out for student renters' best interests to create a more broad-based movement. ASM is one of a few organizational bodies that students more or less respect, and they could make students more aware of the issues surrounding landlord disputes. ASM could set up information booths about off-campus housing in the unions during January and February to get students thinking about how to look out for their own best interests as they search for next year's apartment. They would be helping to spread information to students a great deal just by standing behind a table for a few hours and handing out some of the paperwork mentioned above.
By being a bit more thoughtful and a bit more proactive, young people can avoid getting the short end of the stick in housing deals.
Neil Klingensmith ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in molecular biology.
