This report was prepared as part of a two-semester project, working with the COPC program to address landlord tenant issues among Pitt students.

Background

Currently Pitt does not have any programs in place that specifically address landlord tenant issues for students in rental housing. Student landlord tenant issues at Pitt vary, from simple questions involving lease clauses, security deposits, and other basic issues common to first time renters to more involved issues including substandard housing, code violations, illegal withholding of security deposits, and evictions. Though some information is available through the Housing Resource Center, this information is very basic, and many students, particularly at the graduate/professional level are not aware of the HRC. The HRC and the Graduate Students Council experimented with hiring a local attorney to be available for brief sessions with students, but overall, this has not made a significant impact on students’ issues. Various departments at Pitt and CMU offer some housing information on their websites, but this information is often out of date, and not specific enough to be of any use, particularly to students moving to Pittsburgh for the first time.

Over the past few years, control of rental housing in Oakland, Squirrel Hill, and Shadyside has shifted from a variety of management companies, private owners, and commercial owners to a few major management companies and landlords. The student housing market in these communities is very much a seller’s market, and prices have risen sharply as a result, and with the movement towards large management companies, students often have difficulties securing basic information, services, maintenance, and repairs.

This project was started to explore the possibilities of utilizing the students and resources of the Law School to address these issues. Neither Pitt nor Duquesne offers a course or seminar on Pennsylvania or Federal landlord tenant law, and there are very few private practice attorneys that work with landlord tenant issues from the tenant’s perspective. Among other nearby law schools, only Ohio State had any type of formal program to address landlord tenant issues, so in early March, we visited their Student Housing Legal Clinic.

The Ohio State Model

The Ohio State campus is located in the City of Columbus, and the housing stock available to student renters is similar to what students would find in Oakland and the surrounding communities. The housing closest to the campus tends to be rented by undergraduates, is generally more expensive, and more likely to have multiple students living in one unit. Graduate and professional students tend to settle in the surrounding communities, and are more likely to be willing to travel a longer distance, or to seek more family-friendly housing.

The Ohio State Student Housing Legal Clinic was started in 1999, and though it was initially tied to the law school, it is now housed within student affairs, directly under the student advocacy office. Students do not receive credit from the law school, all positions are paid as work-study from the student affairs budget.

The clinic is located in the student union, and is available to any currently registered student, any incoming student who will be renting housing, and students who have recently graduated whose leases are ending. The clinic is not available to faculty or staff. The clinic deals only with landlord tenant issues, and will not address issues among roommates, or handle disputes between students, or situations where the University is one of the parties.

The Clinic has a supervising attorney (who also teaches a landlord tenant course at the law school). At Ohio State the clinic attorneys are not considered faculty, but are classified as staff attorneys. The supervising attorney reviews every case that comes through the clinic, and approves all actions taken by the students on behalf of the student clients. Undergraduate work study students handle the reception and general office tasks, law students do the intake, counseling, and any legal actions (under the supervision of the clinic attorney). There is a program coordinator/office manager who is not an attorney who supervises the general management of the clinic, as well as outreach activities.

Law students are not required to take the landlord tenant course at the law school to work in the clinic, and the clinic offers a training program for students working in the clinic for the first time. Third year students provide guidance to the second year students, so the system works without necessitating formal training or coursework.

Approximately 95% of the cases are considered “counsel and advise” where the problems are resolved through the information provided, or through simple follow up. The most common issues are repairs, security deposits, and lease analysis. More complicated issues include rent escrow, eviction (when the tenant has a valid defense), or actions taken against the tenant. Cases are assigned to a particular student who follows the case until it is resolved. Students present updates on their cases at weekly staff meetings. Third year students can be certified to represent clients in court, and any cases that require complex litigation can be referred to the law school’s litigation clinic.

From a broader perspective, the clinic can address trends within the community, and focus on situations where one landlord is continually problematic for students. The clinic also does outreach, offering programs for other student groups and for incoming students on topics relating to leases and landlord tenant issues.

The clinic also has an extensive library, offering informational materials on a variety of topics, which are available to students on a walk-in basis. According to the law students at the clinic, most of the questions that students have when they visit the clinic can be answered with the information available in the office.

The undergraduate student government also produces an annual renting guide, which includes general information about leases, sample correspondence regarding common issues, lists of local property available for rent, and a very extensive survey of student experience and satisfaction with the major rental companies in the area, covering issues such as prompt return of security deposits, and cleanliness of apartment at move in. The guide includes advertisements for local apartment complexes and management companies. The student government does not state opinions, just reports the results of the survey.

What can be done at Pitt?

Though the legal clinic system at Pitt’s law school is currently in flux, many of the resources that Ohio State offers from their clinic could be offered on a smaller scale here. As far as a full-function clinic, it is interesting that OSU eventually moved their clinic out of the law school and under the general student affairs department, as there should be similar opportunities to create a similar program here from within student affairs or within student government. The most important factor would be finding an attorney with the interest and experience in landlord tenant law to supervise the clinic.

Again, on a smaller scale, many of the resources that OSU uses could be duplicated here, and part of the current work that this group is producing would be a start towards this end. As part of independent study or research projects, students can develop informational materials that the HRC and other offices could have available for students. A similar web-based survey could be conducted on campus to offer information on other’s previous experiences with the local management companies would be very useful to incoming and continuing students, particularly those coming to Pittsburgh for the first time.

One area where such a survey would be particularly helpful would be in providing accurate information about current housing costs and utilities to students. Many departmental webpages still state that a student can find a reasonable one-bedroom apartment in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside for about $500/month, when in fact $600-700 is probably a more reasonable estimate in recent years. This information should be reported to the financial aid office, as the amount budgeted for living expenses, particularly for grad students who are more likely to live alone, has not kept pace with the rapid increase in costs.

Since few of the major management companies have current rental information on the web for the Pittsburgh housing market, a survey of the major managers in the area would be highly beneficial, as well as basic tenant’s rights information regarding security deposits and leases. This survey could be done through student government, so as to distance any administrative office at Pitt from the appearance of supporting or discouraging rentals from a particular company.

Particularly with the transient nature of the student population, and particularly in Oakland (with the undergraduate focus), students are less likely to stay and pursue legal action against a landlord, and many of the landlords in the area take advantage of the student’s lack of knowledge in this area. Providing a comprehensive resource for students dealing with these issues should be a long-term goal here at the University.