With all the controversy surrounding the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the term "predatory lending" has entered the vernacular. However, there is another phrase that is similar, but not quite as well known -- the problem of "predatory renting," an issue that college students across the country often deal with. Because many students are first-time renters, their naive attitude towards housing causes them to be the perfect targets for landlords who are looking to cut corners and suck students into leases that are impossible to get out of, no matter how bad the living conditions turn out to be.
David J. Brown, a prominent real estate lawyer in Lawrence, says that once students get into a bad living situation it's almost impossible for them to get out.
"Students cannot afford to pay for lawyer fees once they are in a bad situation," said Brown. "However, landlords often can."
It's this problem that leaves many students feeling that their situation is hopeless and not even worth fighting for better living conditions. KU legal services has helped many students by referring them to real estate counselors, who are experts when it comes to the Landlord-Tenant Act of Kansas.
Robert Baker is a tenant-landlord counselor for the Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. (HCCI), who for more than 10 years has helped counsel KU students in bad living arrangements.
"How many students can you guess read their entire lease when signing for a house or apartment? Well, the answer is hardly any," Baker said. "That's the first step to being a smart student renter. Some landlords can specify up to an 180 day notice for a lease termination, then you're stuck paying rent for six months before you can get out of a lease."
Christine Brady, a KU senior, decided she and her friends needed to start house hunting early for a place to live their senior year. They found a house that suited their needs, but there was a catch. The landlord had recently purchased the house and needed to do a lot of work on the inside before it would be ready for the girls to move into.
"We were promised new carpets, professional cleaning, along with several other fixes by the time we moved in on August 1st, eight months away," Brady said. "We didn't even move in until the third, and when we did, everything had fallen apart, nothing had been fixed and the place was dirty and in shambles. Thinking we didn't have a choice we reluctantly moved our things in, only to be robbed the first night we lived there."
Brady and her roommates, fearing for their safety and drained from the disappointment of their first house, hired a lawyer and were able to nullify the lease and walk from the house August 5th.
"It was so sad, we were ten days from the start of school and had no place to live. We had lost $3,000 in the robbery and had to move our things back out on the hottest day of the year," said Brady.
Brady's story is not as uncommon in Lawrence as some might think. While she and her roommates were able to afford a lawyer, most students are not. Many students are dealt a bad hand and will spend an entire year regretting the decision to sign their first lease.
