Many students try to make life easier for themselves by schlepping their stuff into off-Grounds housing.But as they sign leases for off-Grounds housing for the 2006-07 academic year, students should anticipate some mixed experiences with their first landlords.
Third-year College student Michal Duvdevani said she is very happy with her current living situation in University Heights but had a horrible experience when she first moved off Grounds.
"They just didn't care," Duvdevani said, referring to the landlords. "They never came to clean or fix anything, and it wasn't clean when we moved in."
According to Duvdevani, her landlord sold her house without telling her or the other renters and had violated the lease in many ways. Duvdevani cited a specific lease violation in which the landlord failed to notify tenants that roofers would be doing repairs early in the morning.
Fourth-year College student Kristin Prishivalko said she finds her landlord to be receptive to problems but added that in general, leasers often look for opportunities to make more money.
"People don't usually get safety deposits back, from my experience," Prishivalko said.
While Prishivalko has not had specific problems with signing leases, she added that "there's always a charge to add people on to the lease, again more money that they're taking."
For example, a standard Woodard Properties contract reviewed for this article assessed a $50 charge for subletting an apartment one-month's rent to re-rent a unit. The agreement also charged tenants rent for days the unit was being cleaned before and after the tenants moved in.
David Velicky, of property management company Velicky L.C., said although he has been out of the office for the past few months, he has not heard of many complaints from tenants.
"There are no problems with the lease, to my knowledge," Velicky said, adding that many of the leases signed have been reviewed by Student Legal Services.
According to Student Legal Services Director Lester Wilson, 49 students took advantage of the office's service of reviewing leases without cost last year. Wilson cited basement apartments as a problem many students have, explaining that "in older buildings, [the basements] are often dank and moldy in wet periods."
Wilson urged students to confirm that the Virginia Landlord Tenant Act applies to their leases, as it will offer them more protection if they run into any problems.
While Wilson acknowledged that some apartments are in "bad shape," he said he is confident that, given the high availability of apartments, students can find apartments that fit their needs and live up to their standards.
"There are a lot of apartments now, so there shouldn't be a problem finding a good apartment," Wilson said.
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