Off-campus residents struggle with landlords

By Serene Aandahl

Though landlords continue to raise housing prices -- but not quality -- many students still prefer prime location over attentive lessors.

The Santa Clara city's task force for tenant-landlord relations received 615 calls concerning problems between tenants and landlords in 2004, according to Martin Eichner, director of the city's dispute resolution programs. He estimates that between 10 to 15 percent of the cases involved Santa Clara students.

Even with students calling in to report problems with their landlords, rent rates have risen steadily. Lessors like property manager Myron Von Raesfeld acknowledge that prices are high, but is confident that the market can with bear it.

He may be right. Students are still willing to pay steep rates for a close-to-campus location and some sense that their landlord is maintaining the quality of the property. Von Raesfeld also maintains that off campus living is still cheaper for students.

"Myron is chill, he charges a lot but he also puts a lot in," said senior Mike Ferdinandi, who lives on Lafayette Street.

Other tenants are less impressed with their landlords' attention to their property.

"It's a pain sometimes to have to take care of utility issues without much help from Marte Formico," said junior Denise Melone of her landlord. "But for many students a higher level of self-sufficiency is a small price to pay for above average freedom."

Josh Kolb, another tenant of Formico, agrees that his lessor tends to be very uninvolved.

"As long as the house is standing and the rent is paid, Formico gives almost total freedom to his tenants," Kolb said. "You will find yourself doing most of your own repairs."

Formico declined to comment.

While Melone and Kolb acknowledge that their landlord could do more to help his tenants, they are content with their living situation.

"Landlords matter, but I would not trade great location and convenience for a nicer landlord," Melone said.

She also said that although she was unimpressed with Formico's willingness to help his tenants, he conducted his affairs with enough professionalism to make her consider renting from him again.

"Most problems arise when neither party understands their rights and responsibilities or they are simply not communicating," Eichner said.

Tenants are often unaware that a landlord has 21 days to decide on the amount they will return and are entitled to take the full time to consider. Some students demand to have their deposit immediately upon vacating a property.

Junior Park Central resident John Caswell called the city of Santa Clara's Project Sentinel hotline, a service that provides information on tenant rights, to ask some basic questions and was impressed with the operators knowledge and willingness to help.

"They are about keeping things fair and professional," Caswell said. He said would consider using this resource again.

Eichner encourages all tenants to be aware of their rights and develop a good working relationship with their landlords.

Other students have positive off-campus housing experiences.

Larry Pazzino, manager of an apartment complex behind Safeway, says he maintains popularity with students by "respecting them as tenants and individuals."

Pazzino, a Santa Clara alumnus, has a 24-hour fix policy. After receiving a tenant call for help, Pazzino claims he either fixes the problem within 24 hours or arranges for a quick response service.

"Larry is one of the reasons we moved into these apartments, he's a nice helpful guy who fixes the doors and such, we only had to call once," junior Jenica Mariani said.

Local landlord Jason Jones, manager of the Alviso housing complex, said that he has a vested interest in keeping the property in good quality, so if a tenant needs something fixed he is very responsive.

"I definitely help them out, pointing them the right direction," Jones said.

Alviso resident Rachel Greenberg confirms Jones' readiness to help.

"This is my first time dealing with running my own house. We have had lots of questions and a couple issues and Jason handled them quickly and was friendly in the process," Greenberg said.