Students learn to deal with rent, landlords

Each year, hundreds of Penn undergraduate students make the decision to leave the college house system. And before they do, they should find out who their landlords will be, College senior Ashley Braden said. Braden and her roommates did not go through a central housing office and instead, have a private landlady. "She has her own contractor, and he isn't very good," Braden said. "We have had squirrels and mice and some heating issues which she has refused" to fix properly. Braden still said that there are some great things about living off campus. "I would look into the landlady more if I had to do it again," she concluded. Penn's Office of Off-Campus Living offers advice for students, including what to expect of a landlord in addition to safety suggestions and the rights and responsibilities of tenants. College senior Jacob Kraft, who is living off Penn's campus for the first time, said the minor annoyances of having a landlord still outweigh the benefits of living off campus. "There are petty annoyances," Kraft noted. "The landlord will inform us of something and then change their minds. "There are mistakes on the bill," he added. "He sends us messages and follows through on half of them." Kraft said his landlord told them that he was going to replace the air conditioners and refurbish the kitchen, neither which has happened yet. He added, however, that his landlord was rather responsive when there was a problem. "They immediately send service people when we do have a problem," Kraft said. "They are pretty accessible and pretty fair." College junior Nathalie Bragadir had similar praise for her landlord's responsiveness. "He has been pretty good," Bragadir said. "He responds when we have a problem and usually sends someone to check things out the day of or the day after."

College senior Hayley Lofink had some complications with her off-campus residence, but said she is still happy with her decision to live off campus. "We use Campus Apartments, and I think they are great in terms of maintenance," Lofink said. "We have had some difficulty with... [disorganization], but overall, it's been a positive experience... and we got a cat to take care of the mice." And for those still considering whether or not to move off campus, Kraft had some practical advice. "You have to learn how to deal with apartments and landlords eventually.... Why not learn it now?"

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