For one tenant, moving in was a nightmare

College sophomore Tracy Tripp found some unexpected surprises when she moved into her off-campus house this fall. "The tenant before us had partied hard and the place was completely trashed," Tripp said of her University Enterprises-owned house. Further complicating her situation, Tripp said repairs she and her housemates had previously requested were not completed by the time she moved in. "There was rotting food in the refrigerator and the stove didn't work and was leaking gas," she added. The stove remained broken for three months, prompting Tripp to call the gas company to fix the leak. According to Holly Herman, manager of University Enterprises, Tripp failed to inform her about the gas leak. Herman added that the stove repairs were prolonged because the stove needed a new part. Tripp also expressed annoyance with University Enterprises' handling of a sewer back-up that filled her basement with feces. "They fixed it but we called on Saturday and they only came on Monday so the emergency [phone] line [we called] was not as fast as it should have been," Tripp said. "They did not fix it completely either and it backed up again. Then they tried to tell us that it was our fault and they would have to charge us." Tripp said landlords often do not make speedy repairs because they expect students to harass them first. "You have to bug the shit out of them," Tripp said. "They expect that and they expect people to trash the house so when they get normal tenants who don't want to live like pigs they don't know what to do." Herman, however, said his company does repairs and renovations "as promptly as we can." "They have the right to have anything fixed that they want -- they pay rent," she added. "But we take care of our property."