2008 Woodie Awards
Off-campus students face landlord neglect, unfairness
Sarah Kneezle
Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: News
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When he finds time between his busy class and work schedule, Justin Zaffiro, a junior film major and a resident on Cortes Street in the South End, spends his time looking for a new apartment.
Although the lease on his current apartment does not expire until June 31, Zaffiro and his roommates were approached by the building's management company this summer and urged to find a new apartment as soon as possible.
Zaffiro's apartment is one of only three units in 23 Cortes St. that is not on a Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 lease. When the other leases ended in August, the tenants moved out, leaving Zaffiro and residents of two other apartments as the building's only inhabitants. Heath Properties, the company that bought the apartment building, intends to renovate it as soon as possible in order to increase property value and revenue, Zaffiro said.
Zaffiro said the company has repeatedly called him and his roommates urging them to leave, and has even called his mother, who is a cosigner on the lease.
"They are trying to force us out through a method of negligence-they won't return our phone calls or make repairs," Zaffiro said. "We're on the top floor and they can start renovating the bottom floors of the building to hopefully drive us out by noise."
Many of the 1,700 Emerson students who live off campus have, like Zaffiro, experienced difficulties with landlords and management companies.
Christy Letizia, the coordinator of Off Campus Student Services, said her office receives a continuous flow of student complaints (at least 30), between October and the end of the school year. The complaints include unresolved security deposits, apartments without heat and negligence involving repairs.
More than 70,000 full-time undergraduate students live in Boston and one in three residents of the city are between the ages of 20 and 34, according to Isabel Kriegel, a manager for One In 3 Boston, an organization that helps young residents with rental assistance, home buying, professional choices and connecting with other young people.
Although the lease on his current apartment does not expire until June 31, Zaffiro and his roommates were approached by the building's management company this summer and urged to find a new apartment as soon as possible.
Zaffiro's apartment is one of only three units in 23 Cortes St. that is not on a Sept. 1 to Aug. 31 lease. When the other leases ended in August, the tenants moved out, leaving Zaffiro and residents of two other apartments as the building's only inhabitants. Heath Properties, the company that bought the apartment building, intends to renovate it as soon as possible in order to increase property value and revenue, Zaffiro said.
Zaffiro said the company has repeatedly called him and his roommates urging them to leave, and has even called his mother, who is a cosigner on the lease.
"They are trying to force us out through a method of negligence-they won't return our phone calls or make repairs," Zaffiro said. "We're on the top floor and they can start renovating the bottom floors of the building to hopefully drive us out by noise."
Many of the 1,700 Emerson students who live off campus have, like Zaffiro, experienced difficulties with landlords and management companies.
Christy Letizia, the coordinator of Off Campus Student Services, said her office receives a continuous flow of student complaints (at least 30), between October and the end of the school year. The complaints include unresolved security deposits, apartments without heat and negligence involving repairs.
More than 70,000 full-time undergraduate students live in Boston and one in three residents of the city are between the ages of 20 and 34, according to Isabel Kriegel, a manager for One In 3 Boston, an organization that helps young residents with rental assistance, home buying, professional choices and connecting with other young people.