Caitlin Pedati (NHS ’07) said that when she moved into her house on the 3300 block of Prospect St. this summer with five other girls, dead roaches littered the floor and the interior needed cleaning and repainting. “I don’t think the house was safe when we moved in,” Pedati said. “I easily put a grand into cleaning and fixing up things.”
The girls found paper towels under a radiator and cracked or missing tiles on the kitchen and bathroom floors. There were no ground wires for electricity, and none of the fire alarms worked. The only fire extinguisher downstairs was “ancient,” Pedati said. “It’s been an absolutely miserable experience. “
“Their lease is a joke … it puts all of the responsibility on the tenant,” Pedati added. “As a student community, we need to boycott this company.”
The six girls in the house pay a total of $6,000 per month for the house, which is managed by the Student Housing Association. Utilities are included, Pedati said, but they have never seen the bills from the utility companies—though SHA bills them for $600 each month.
When Pedati calls SHA, she said, their contact Joel Mack and the company’s secretary are difficult to work with and often condescending. Once, when calling about a leak in the upstairs bathroom that had drained down into the first floor, Pedati said she remembered Mack saying, “it’s probably just the water bouncing off your naked bodies.”
SHA did not reply to phone calls and Mack was not available for an interview when The Voice visited his office.
A Tragically Receding Memory
A little more than two years ago, a fire at 3318 Prospect St. took the life of one of its tenants, Daniel Rigby (MSB ’05), a senior from New Jersey who played club rugby and participated in many community service groups. In the following days, students held a vigil for Rigby—attended by more than 200 students—and collected donations for his roommates.
Initially, the D.C. Fire Department ruled that an electrical malfunction near the basement furnace started the blaze. It was the second house in one month in the 3300 block of Prospect St. to have an electrical fire. Fears of fire code violations led to a slew of housing inspections by the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs around the University neighborhood. The violations included bars welded to the window frames, blocked exit doors and insufficient smoke detectors, The Voice reported in 2004.
DCRA evicted students from six rental properties near Rigby’s house. That December, however, the department revised its report on the fatal fire, attributing it to “heat from other open flame or smoking materials.”
At the time, several landlords, including SHA, placed flyers in their residences urging tenants not to allow safety inspectors to enter the houses. A copy of an SHA flyer obtained at the time told tenants “not to allow them in the house” and referred to the inspections as “discrimination.”
In the time since Rigby’s death, University Vice President for Auxiliary Services Margie Bryant said that the situation for students has gotten marginally better.
“In some respects it has improved,” she said. “Some of the really bad landlords got out of the business.”
Ribgy’s former landlord, Carolyn Chanavve, who lives in Florida and still owns the property, did not return phone calls for comment.
“It is the safest house,” Mike Twomey (MSB ‘07) said referring to 3318 Prospect, the house where Dan Rigby perished two years ago. Twomey, a former friend of Rigby’s, is a current resident of the house, which has since been remodeled and now has a Basic Business License. He added that people would often ask about the house—and whether it was truly the one where Rigby died. “It’s kind of eerie,” he said.
Though they consider the house safe, Twomey and his housemate Alison Davis (COL ’07) remarked that small spots of charred wood could still be seen in certain parts of the house. Davis added that, when she first moved in, the windows in her basement room were the same ones that had survived the fire, though they have now been replaced.
The house now contains seven students: one more than D.C. law permits. Walls were added in, dividing the house into seven single rooms, which are rented out separately according to Twomey.
Twomey and Davis said that Carolyn Chanavve was a good landlord and even paid a trash fine for them this year.
“If that had happened in your house, you would be meticulous too,” Davis said.
A Wider View
From an almost forgotten corner of the first floor of Darnall Hall, Bryant said she works to counter the perceptions that students have no bargaining power over the landlords. Across the city, a real estate market that has been strong for years is softening, and more properties are being put up for rent. According to Bryant, who holds a real estate license, there are three times as many houses up for sale in the District than there were a year ago. Bryant said that many of those houses will be turned into rental homes before the holidays, meaning rental prices should start falling this winter.
She said the situation for the neighborhood in the immediate vicinity of the University, however, is different.
“We have a built-in base for landlords,” she said.
Bryant said that students are ideal tenants for landlords because they are inexperienced as renters and do not generally review leases carefully before signing them. She said that students often don’t ask of landlords as much as they should.
“Why would the [landlords] be motivated to do anything?” she asked.
Chuck Van Sant, the University’s Director of Off Campus Student Life, added that since landlords know that students must pool their individual resources, they can charge sums that are much higher than a family would pay.
Lee Garbrick, who owns eight houses in Burleith, echoed that statement. With six students to a house, he can ask for more money than he could from a family.
“It’s all economics; I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t make money on it,” he said.
On campus at GU, a University apartment in Nevils could cost as much as $29,168 per semester, if it was for seven people, each tenant paying $4,167. A double in Copley with a shared bathroom would cost each student $3,820 per semester.
According to the University of Pennsylvania Off Campus Living web site, students living off campus generally there pay $450-875, with an average of $668, all in the neighborhood around the University. In Manhattan, which is often described as one of the most expensive cities for housing in the country, CraigsList.org advertised a one-bedroom apartment in lower Manhattan for $1,125 per month.
Bryant added that students still often pay too much for the houses and services they end up receiving from landlords.
“We don’t get as many complaints as I think we should from students because they think landlords are going to do something against them,” she said.
Bryant said the bargaining power of students is eroded further because students have been signing leases earlier each year, allowing landlords to lock their young tenants in at high prices.
Edward Emes, who has 50 to 70 tenants in properties across West Georgetown, said he noticed that tenants are ready to sign leases earlier. His first call from a student looking for a place for next year was early this September, Emes said.
“This year I found that paranoia set in a good month earlier,” he said.
Although he said that “one or two” of his buildings are already full, he said he usually has places to rent at the beginning of June.
Van Sant echoed that view, saying he didn’t understand why students are so anxious to sign leases a year in advance when they don’t know what condition the property will be in after the current tenants move out in June.
“In October I could take you to N St. and find a house ready to rent right there,” he said. “Don’t panic.”
Left out to dry
Amanda Pearson (SFS ’07) said that she and her roommates on the 1700 block of 37th St. were the first group to sign a lease with SHA last year. The current seniors committed in early October of their Junior years.
Pearson said she regretted signing a lease so early. Now, Pearson said, the four-bedroom house is in “horrible repair.”
“Everything’s just rotting,” Pearson said. But Laura Magill (COL ’07), her roommate, said their landlord counseled her against allowing city inspectors into the house—which might have had a gas leak earlier this year. As a group, the four girls who live there pay approximately $3,400 in monthly rent.
According to Magill, Joel Mack, their contact at SHA, told her that, “if you let inspectors in, they will just write you up for random stuff,” and that the girls would have to pay the fines.
However, Van Sant, at Off Campus Student Life, said DCRA fines property owners for code violations—not tenants.
When the girls in the house suspected a gas leak earlier this year, they called Mack, who sent a repairman to remedy the strange smell the girls noticed in the basement. The girls did not see a repairman that day, but the smell was gone when they woke up the next morning. Pearson said that, when they called Mack, he told them that a repairman had been sent, had entered the house, fixed the problem and left, while all of the girls were asleep.
Judith McCaffrey, a landlord who owns two properties near the GU campus, had praise for Mack. “Mine’s just a spectator’s opinion,” she said, “but from what I can tell, he’s very professional, and he’s trying to do a good job.”
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bill Starrels, who represents many of the student properties on Prospect St., said there were both good and bad landlords in Georgetown. However, he singled out SHA for criticism, referring to Joel Mack as “half the battle.”
“I’ve been told first-hand that they’re not safe,” Starrels said, referring to the company’s houses. “They could care less about the humans living in these things.”
Starrels said the University and the ANC were working together, especially since the death of Dan Rigby, to get DCRA to spend some of its limited resources actively inspecting student houses. “I wish it were that easy,” Starrels said.
The Voice contacted the DCRA, which performs inspections on houses, but their spokesperson did not have a comment as of press time. Karyn-Siobhan Robinson, DCRA’s Public Information Officer, did refer to an article published in USA Today, on August 30 of this year.
In the article, Robinson is quoted as saying that officials had closed a total of nine homes since the fire that killed Rigby two years ago. At least six of those houses were condemned or closed in the week immediately after the fire, The Voice reported, displacing students.
Robinson was also quoted as saying that the city has worked with GU since the fire to educate students about risks and to more aggressively track city code violations. The onus for inspections, however, continues to rest on students, who must solicit an inspection and let the officials into their houses.
There’s nowhere else to live
On the 3500 block of O St., students interviewed in five houses for this story paid an average of $930 per month apiece to live within one block of Healy Gates. All of them expressed slight reservations about the steep price, but were happy with their landlords.
Relaxing in their elegant living room in the 3500 block of O Street on Monday, Sebastian Livesey (SFS ‘07) and Adam Glazer (CAS ‘07) both said that they were happy with the responsiveness of their landlord, Jack Mula, and the extensive renovations he has made to his property. With their four roommates, they pay $6,000 per month for two singles and two doubles. Next year, Livesey said, the total rent will increase to $7,200.
“We feel like we get what we’re paying for,” Livesey said. He added, however that the house might not be worth it next year after the substantial price increase.
Glazer concurred, saying he sympathized with the need to charge high rents to cover the high costs of the neighborhood.
“It’s not his fault that it’s expensive,” he said.
Just next-door, adjacent to the blue house with the wave mural that is familiar to many students, Emily Midura (CAS ‘07) echoed the view of several students on the block.
“There’s nowhere else to live,” she said.
Some students, however, have few doubts about the safety of their houses and are satisfied with their landlords.
“It’s been pretty good, so far,” Sarah Scarzynski (SFS ‘08) said. Her house in Burleith, a property owned and maintained by Lee Garbrick in the 3700 block of R St., and has adequate smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. It was also remodeled two years ago, Scarzynski said, and is furnished.
Scarzynski and her five roommates pay a total of $6,000/mo for the house and agreed to follow certain rules when they signed their lease. The rules, which are also posted on the house’s refrigerator, prohibit kegs in the house, along with smoking and pets. Garbrick visits the property often, Scarzynski said. “I guess it’s better than having one [a landlord] who never shows up,” she said.
Don’t Make the Same Mistake Twice
Both Bryant and Van Sant emphasized that there are plenty of resources available to students through each of their offices.
Van Sant said that students must remember to ask for the landlord’s Basic Business License at the time they sign the lease. The Basic Business License is issued by the DCRA and permits landlords to rent properties in the District.
If a landlord has a BBL, Van Sant said, it means a property was at least up to code at the time of the last inspection. He encouraged students to contact DCRA for free follow-up inspections.
In describing how SHA “coached” her to refuse inspectors at the door, Magill said she was told she would be held responsible for any repairs needed to bring the house up to code.
While Bryant said that most leases hold landlords responsible for the costs of repairs, she noted that clauses that hold tenants responsible are not illegal.
“They need to be aware that if it’s in there, they shouldn’t sign it,” she said of such clauses.
Bryant said that her office lists properties available to students in the neighborhood and will tell students if complaints have been issued against their prospective landlord in the past. They do not list SHA properties, she said.
Bryant also noted that landlords, by law, cannot ask students to pay anything more than the first month’s rent and a security deposit at the signing of the lease. She said that her office on several occasions has fought to get students’ security deposits back at the end of their lease.
Alissa Granger (SFS ’06), a former Voice staffer who now works in Boston, is still fighting with her old landlord to return the $3,600 security deposit that she and three roommates put down for their Prospect Street townhouse.
Both she and her roommate had tried several times to contact their old landlord, and even threatened legal action, she said.
“She’d hang up the phone on us when we called her,” she said. “We’re never going to see that money again.”
Several students who were contacted for this story declined to comment because they said they feared retaliation or problems with their landlord.
Bryant, however, emphasized that by law, landlords cannot retaliate for complaints to DCRA by increasing rent or reducing services.
Van Sant noted that the rental laws in the District greatly favor the tenants, on the condition that they pay their rent.
“You all should love to be tenants in D.C.,” he said. “If you’re going to be evicted in this city, it’ll take longer for them to evict you than for you to graduate.”
What Does the Future Hold?
“It’s probably too late for us,” Caitlin Pedati said of her housemates on the 3300 block of Prospect St. “And it’s probably too late for next year … it makes me so nervous.”
Pedati said she was working to get her house inspected, and hoped to formally file a complaint about SHA with the offices at DCRA.
Ray Danieli, Assistant Director of Student Affairs, said that the Office of Off Campus Student Life has had several symposiums to meet with local landlords, to build relationships with them.
Van Sant, in the meantime, said he could help steer students toward better landlords, and to act as a liaison with DCRA for students living off campus. And Bryant offered to have her office read over leases before students signed them. But students must ask for those services.
Pedati, for now, is left with her “drafty” house.
“I wish I had gone and talked to Ray and Chuck [at Off Campus Student Life],” she said, before signing the lease for her house with SHA. “I’m sure they’re bleeding students dry with this,” she added.
