Contents: Learning to deal with a landlord Finding off-campus living Paying to live off campus
Learning to deal with a landlord Landlords can be a challenge to face for some students. By Christina Yang
Every year, many Penn students opt to move off-campus, sometimes without adequate knowledge of the challenges that may lie ahead. Unresponsive landlords, broken heat in the middle of winter and tricky leases are among the problems that off-campus residents sometimes face. For those who need help dealing with their landlords, Penn's Office of Off-Campus Living provides resources and advice. Mihaela Farcas, director of the Office of Off-Campus Living, said that first and foremost, students should focus on carefully reading leases before signing. "Read it carefully so you know what your obligations are," she said. Farcas also said students do not need to worry that much about illegal clauses in leases because they are not enforceable. "I would worry more about unfair clauses - unfair to tenants, very favorable to landlords," she said. She added that students should know that they have rights as tenants by law. "The tenant needs to know that there is some protection offered by law and by the rules and regulations of the Philadelphia Housing Code," Farcas said. Above all, Farcas stressed the importance of documenting any promises a realtor makes about house repairs, such as recarpeting an apartment. "Anything that is not in writing cannot be enforced," she said. "In real estate, verbal promises are very difficult to enforce. "A request for serious repairs must be made in writing. If nothing happens, then you need to write a second letter. After you have done this twice and given the landlord a reasonable amount of time to fix the problem, you can start using remedies," she said. Farcas defined "remedies" as repairing the problem and deducting the cost from rent payments, withholding rent, or taking the more drastic step of moving out entirely. However, she stressed that "very specific requirements. must be fulfilled in order to" use these remedies. Some students said that they have had difficulties getting landlords to fix problems with their houses or apartments. Engineering senior Noah Chinitz said that while his landlord deals with most minor problems efficiently, larger problems are almost never resolved. "When we complain about something, they generally fix it if it's small," Chinitz said. But "our landlord in general is pretty terrible. They just don't want to put any real money into the house. They just want to gouge students." Specifically, Chinitz referred to recent problems heating the house, since "there's zero insulation." "Our gas bills are at $500 to $700 per month, which is just ridiculous," he added. And Engineering senior Nick Fawzi said that while several maintenance issues have been dealt with to his satisfaction recently, others have not. "We had a leak in our bathroom, [because] the ceiling was dripping from another apartment, and they came and fixed it pretty much right away," Fawzi said. However, like Chinitz, Fawzi said that he has had problems getting a response out of his landlord in regards to fixing uneven heating throughout the house. "The general bureaucracy is really bad," he said. "We talked to them about our heating, but it's been months since we sent the letter, and there's still no response." However, there are also those who have nothing to complain about in regards to off-campus living and say that their relationships with their landlords are fine. College senior Ashley Hellinger said that her landlord has been "pretty good" about responding to problems. "A couple times, we locked ourselves out of our rooms, and they came right over, even at one in the morning on a Friday night," Hellinger said. "When the toilet gets clogged, they're usually over within an hour or two," she added. Julie Cooper, a College junior, has also had good experiences with her landlord. According to Cooper, repairs and other requests have mostly been dealt with in a timely manner. "I asked them to paint my room, and they were really responsive," she said. "They did it within a few days." Farcas suggested that if students do have landlord problems, they should come to the Office of Off-Campus Housing for help. "Our office offers counseling in landlord-tenant matters," Farcas said. "We can assist them with the right procedure with repairs."
Finding off-campus living The Office of Off-Campus Living can help with security deposits and tenant rights. By Sruthi Vangala
Each spring, many students struggle against a tight housing market to find a place to live for the coming semester. And with the search for off-campus housing beginning earlier each year, the pressure is on students to find a place to live - and find it fast. But the Office of Off-Campus Living, located on the corner of 41st and Walnut streets, holds the answers to some common questions asked by Penn undergraduates who are interested in living off campus. OCL Director Mihaela Farcas admits that the housing market in the University City District is tight, but she maintains that with all the services that OCL offers, students should be able to find housing at a reasonable price. "The office's services range from facilitating communication with landlords to providing information on subletting and the community," Farcas said. The office's online resources allow students to search for housing through an interactive database, as well. The OCL web site, www.upenn.edu/oclhousing, assists in the location of housing and lists landlords by area. The site also has a fact sheet with information on subjects including apartment rental costs, student demographic information, insurance, internet access and furniture storage and rental. "We are concerned with tenant education," Farcas said. "Responsible tenants have more power over the process and can invite the landlord to be more responsible as well." Farcas said one of the office's major goals is making sure students are aware of their rights as tenants during the bargaining process. Getting security deposits back, which Farcas cited as a significant problem for many students over the past few years, is another area in which OCL's services may come in handy. In the past, OCL officers have suggested that students be careful to protect their own property and make careful notice of the conditions of the house when they first move in. When conflicts with landlords arise, OCL offers mediation and dispute resolution and, in more serious cases, access to legal assistance. By walking students through the process and helping them obtain university subsidized legal assistance, OCL stands by its students throughout the housing experience.
Paying to live off campus Nearly half of Penn's student body lives off campus, despite recent price hikes. By Stephanie Ramos
While about half of Penn's campus is filling out their housing forms for next year, the other half is finalizing their arrangements for a house or an apartment off-campus. Currently, Penn has the capacity to house about half of its 12,056 full-time undergraduate students. During the 2001 fall semester, 6,341 students lived on campus, while the remaining 5,466 lived in off-campus apartments and houses, mostly in the University City area. To the many student who find it an appealing option, off-campus living represents a new-found sense of freedom, a freedom which they cannot have in the dormitory system. Next fall, Wharton sophomore Enrique Torres will be moving from his high rise apartment into a house with six others. "Mainly, it's so we can have our own place," Torres said of his and his friends' reasons for moving out of the dormitories. "It's not that we don't like [on-campus] housing, we just want a place of our own, where we can do what we want to do." However, Director of Off-Campus Living Mihaela Farcas wants students to know that living off-campus is not all fun and games. "People want more independence, they want to make their own living arrangements, without the constraints of the dorm," Farcas said. "However, once you live off campus you are left with a great sense of responsibility - for yourself, your safety and your finances. Students should remember that." Farcas said she can understand the desire to move off campus, though. "Even if Penn did have enough housing, it is part of growing up, though, moving away and acquiring a home, getting more responsibility," she said. Torres thinks the responsibility will be well worth the result, however. "It might be a pain to get ethernet and cable and all," he said. "But it's not a really big inconvenience, it's definitely worth it." Wharton senior Michael Parker, who currently lives off campus, also said he liked his current independence. "I live off campus because of the lifestyle," Parker said. "You have autonomy which you can't get in the dorm system." "Plus, there's more room and you get more for your money," he added. "It's a lot more convenient to live off campus, especially when you think about dining. A kitchen is much more conducive to cooking than the communal dorm kitchen or a high rise kitchenette." While there are advantages, such as more space for less money, Farcas points out that prices have risen dramatically with the improvement of West Philadelphia and the University City District. "Prices started rising in 1998, and in 2000-2001, the prices have risen very much," Farcas said. "In the past four years [from 1998 to 2002], the prices have probably risen a good 30 to 40 percent." While some strongly advocate off-campus living, to many others, the expense and responsibility would be too great a burden. College junior Divani Nabaraja, who currently lives on campus and will continue to do so next year, would not consider moving out of the dormitories. "The houses [off campus] are far from the main part of campus," she said. "Besides all the things you have to do, some of the locations are pretty shady. I wouldn't live there." College sophomore James Schneider, who also plans to continue living on campus, said he is adamantly opposed to moving. "First of all, it's more expensive to live off campus. It's also farther from your classes," he added. "I love the college house atmosphere - you get to meet all kinds of people each year. Living off campus would restrict your friends to those that you live with." "You take on a lot more responsibility living off-campus, I wouldn't want to do that," he said. "You have the rest of your life to live off-campus and only four years to get the dorm experience - why would you give that up?"
