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Dealings with landlords continue
to frustrate UNL student tenants
Lincoln landlords aren't the kind of
persons who would tie young maidens
to railroad tracks for not paying the
rent, as often illustrated in cartoons.
But some do refuse to refund
damage deposits when no damage has
been done to the property, leave
tenants with flooded basements and
no water, or, in a few instances, rent
property that has " been marked by
housing officials as unsafe for human
habitation. "
Their properties are scattered
throughout Lincoln, yet the amount
of property owned by each is
unknown to housing inspection
officials.
Most landlords have other
occupations that vary as greatly as the
conditions their properties are in.
They don't fit into any one
classification.
Neither do the complaints against
them, nor the clients who make those
complaints, according to community
agencies concerned with housing
issue?., w . s .,, v ;;
The City-Wide Tenants Assoc. and
Legal Aid Society of Lincoln, Inc., are
agencies which deal with
landlord-tenant disputes where they
occur most frequently-arrfdhg person
with low incomes.
City-Wide officers have compiled a
list of 19 landlords, many of whom are
considered slum landlords, according
to Bea Richmond, City-Wide member,
City-Wide officers receive
approximately SO phone calls a week
from people who either complain
about landlords refusing to make
repairs or who want to know their
rights as tenants, Richmond said
On the first day of the month,
when rent is due, 50 calls may be
received in one day, she said.
Most tenants won't publicize their
complaints against landlords for fear
of eviction, Richmond said.
Most of the evictions that do occur
stem from one of two reasons:
disagreement between landlord and
tenants about property maintenance,
and failure of tenants to pay rent,
according to Gale Pokorny, an
attorney for Legal Aid.
page 6
1 rk ""hi
j h "r .- II .Two complaints of landlords
! I (s SSj;pl00J I renting placarded or "red-tagged"
I I 1 housing have been reported over the
I f Jr4.y 1 1 past tJiree ve3fS t0 the housing
li Jp f 1 inspection office, Kopines noted.
' 1 x , , r J '
"They (tenants) almost never have
a written agreement with their
landlords)," he said. "You find a
whole bevy of arrangements on how
rent is paid and repairs are made."
Pokorny said most of the problems
between landlords and tenants concern
the actual physical condition of the
house or apartment. The housing
frequently is intended to be
low-income housing, he said.
If tenants force the repair issue, and
if the house is deemed unsafe to live
in, the tenant may be moved into
other housing by the city relocation
office, he said.
"The tenants only wanted to get
the thing fixed, not to be moved out,"
Pokorny said.
Tenants have no bargaining power
on the issue of rent, but must pay
according to their agreement with the
landlord, he said.
Regarding damage deposits or rent
withheld, however, tenants have some
leverage in Small Claims Court, where ,
landlords may be sued to recover
amounts of not more than $500.
A random check of court dockets
by the Daily Nebraskan showed that
S?at'.fbwenants-iwnth"'
filed iftit2&(lctb for rsturn 6T"
deposits and "back rent from June
1973 to January 1974.
Landlord: also filed suits against
tenants at the same rate, according to
the court records.
Landlords also voice their gripes
against tenants to various housing
agencies. The most frequently heard
complaint is failure of the tenant to
pay rent, according to Pokorny. But
most landlords won't evict
immediately.
Richmond said City-Wide members
have encountered a' most as many
good landlords as bad ones.
According to Carl K opines, Lincoln
housing administrator, most property
owners "cooperate a great deal" in
making improvements on their
property to comply with the city
housing code, ,
The complaints received usually are
related to utilities or dilapidated
property, failure of renter to inspect
property before moving in, and failure
of the landlord to make repairs, he
said.
'The Housing Administration, Office
usually receives 13 calls a month on
these complaints, Kopines said.
daily
P' -&.r ff 0 0. & fr 4ft G
Students in off campus housing are
considered by housing agencies to be
occupying units that otherwise would
be available to low-income families
' needing it more.
"We take care of the people who
have nowhere else to go," Pokorny
said.
But students have similar conflicts
with landlords, according to the ASUN
a Students' Lawyers and the UNL
ombudsman's office.
Of the 100 landlord-tenant cases
the lawyers have dealt with since last
' year, approximately 40 involved
failure to return damage deposits,
according to Bruce Hamilton, one of
the students' lawyers.
Solutions to the disputes usually
are negotiated with the landlords
"with a pretty high degree of success"
or are referred to Small Claims Court,
he said.,
According to Dee Nicodemus,
assistant to the UNL ombudsman,
"landlords have found that students
would rather forget something than go
through the trouble of pursuing it.
si sSerwjssfwdents, like Tonyr ;i;irez,
tried. ""
Ramirez said he and his friend were
"desperate" for an apartment when
they inquired about one that was
renting for $110 a month. It was the
first floor of a house.
According to Ramirez, rent was for
a furnished apartment. But the only
furniture in the place was a chair, box
springs and a mattress. The place was
filthy, he said, and the landlord
demanded a $50 damage deposit in
cash.
They rechecked the apartment
before moving in, found no heat and
no hot water available and they
wanted out. But according to the
contract they had signed, the landlord
had to be notified three days before
such a decision for tenants to be
refunded their deposits.
Ramirez and his roommates weren't
able to taik to their landlord until four
days later, h said.
Ramirez said he requested help
from the Mexican-American
Commission in obtaining the deposit
but was told to go the Small Claims
Court route.
During that time Ramirez said he
mat another student who was
complaining about getting "ripped
off" by his landlord. The student lived
above Ramirez.
nebraskan
Mr. ift-
jj'jjji ,iV" " Jisss:?
Rich Tillson said he rented the
upstairs apartment through the
landlord's real estate agents.
"They never mention the
(landlord's) well known name until
you plunk your money down," he
said.
The agents promised to have
furniture moved in, but Tillson said he
slept on the floor for the month he
rented the place.
During the month, repairs which
were unneeded, at first, became
necessary, he said.
Neither the stove nor the
refrigerator in the apartment worked,
and the maintenance man he had
contacted for service called the
furnace "fairly hazardous," he said.
Tillson added that he tried to talk
to the landlord too about repairs.
"But if he knows who ycu ara and
what you want, ha won't be hom,"
Tillson said. He tried to phone the
Jandlord, but the landlord hung. up
when he identified himself, Tillson-.
said.-"' ; - - " " '
Tillson said he didn't get his
damage deposit refunded, and plans to
file in Small Claims Court.
Until this session of the Legislature,
no law other than common law
(decisions on past cases acting as
precedent) existed for landlord-tenant
problems.
LB2S3, introduced by State Sen.
Harold Simpson of Lincoln, outlines
the rights and responsibilities of both
tenants and landlords.
The bill was drafted by members of
the National Commissioners on
Uniform State Laws, according to
Nebraska Commissioner Wst'aca
Rudolph, a UNL law professor.
Amendments to the bill, introduced
by various landlord groups, have
limited the rights or the tenant,
Rudolph said, "but we're satisfied
with it."
Rudolph said an essential part
removed from the original bill would
have allowed tenants to have needed
repairs mau on property and charge
the costs to the landlord, if the
landlord refused to make these repairs
within a certain amount of time.
The bill was "whitewashed,"
according to Richmond, "but maybe
next year we'll get something we
want," she said.
Wednesday, februsry 20, 1974