By Daily Iowan staff
Following five years of legal action against Iowa City’s largest landlord company, renters finally have a chance for justice.
Earlier this month, a settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit against Apartments Downtown and Apartments Near Campus rental companies. Tenants who rented from the companies between 2009 and 2014 can register for payment for up to $65 for each year they resided in the companies’ properties. The cost covers the issue most often complained about — mandatory carpet-cleaning. Apartments Downtown and Apartments Near Campus are owned by the same company.
“When your tenants are upset, and there’s a focus for them to be upset … the tenants [get] out of control so they realized they needed to work with the tenants more,” said Christopher Warnock, chief lawyer for the Tenants Project.
Over the course of the cases filed and the class-action lawsuit, Warnock said, there were numerous issues people had. One of the main problems was leases that said landlords were not liable.
One UI student found this to be the biggest problem causing her to even feel unsafe in her home.
“The doors to get into the buildings were always broken. It didn’t feel safe at all,” UI senior Morgan Harksen said. “Within the first two months, I woke up at 3 in the morning to a random guy in my room.
“I didn’t know who he was or where he came from. All I know is that he got in because the locks were broken the entire time that we lived there.”
For another senior, Alexis Oakley, this lack of safety was also a major concern, especially because so many of the companies’ buildings are located near downtown, where a lot of late-night activity takes place.
Oakley said while she hasn’t been charged yet by the company because she still rents from Apartments Near Campus, knowing what is going on may help her in the future.
“I re-signed with them, so knowing they could charge me in the future is really eye-opening, because I don’t have the money for that,” she said.
UI senior Kara Lawrence said having a majority of student tenants is possibly one of the reasons the companies treated tenants the way they did.
“I just think they take advantage of students,” she said. “Students who don’t know what they’re doing the first time renting. Obviously, parents aren’t really around.”
Lawrence rented from Michael’s Properties, another member of the group. Warnock said some of the confusion surrounding the lawsuit is that the companies change their names often, confusing many community members.
Warnock said that while this suit will be a relief for past tenants, it is also a step in the right director for current and future ones.
“That’s great, but we really decided we wanted to go further with that and so did Apartments Downtown,” he said.
For the next lease terms, if problems arise, tenants are encouraged to bring them up with the company. If the problem isn’t addressed within 10 days, Warnock and his colleagues will step in.
“I really think they also just had a change of heart,” he said. “So there’s a lot riding on this for landlords and tenants, and if we can make this work, then we have a new model.”
The new model he is referring to is having lawyers sit down with landlords from the beginning and working fairly with both parties to try to come to a reasonable solution.
“It’s brand-new; I don’t think its been done anywhere else in the country,” Warnock said. ”It’s a unique partnership between us and the landlords.
“We’re going to tell the truth, but we’re going to try to get things done together.”
Warnock noted he thinks this will work because instead of fighting back, the landlord companies seem to want to cooperate.
“What’s unique about this is … all of the attorney fees are paid by Apartments Downtown,” he said. “They’ve basically taken a leap of faith here that we’re going to be fair.”
