Renter fraud

Anyone looking to sign a lease for next year might benefit from asking a rental company this question: What percentage of your tenants get their full deposit back?

Here’s why I suspect rental companies could be taking a lot of money from IU students. When my wife and I arrived in Bloomington last May, we had the fortune to sublet from a friendly and very responsible couple, both IU grad students.

Every landlord I’ve ever known would have returned their deposit in July and thanked them profusely for being such good tenants. Instead, their $600 was withheld by the management, and an additional $500 was billed for painting.

Also, I met another couple down the street, also grad students, who looked nervous as their apartment was being inspected five minutes before they left town for good. The apartment looked fine, so they seemed to know that the management isn’t fair to conscientious tenants.

If someone is in business mainly to make sizeable profits, it would be easier to fraudulently keep the deposits of responsible people than to raise rents and/or bill thoughtless tenants. Where better to pursue this practice than in a town where renters often have to take exams and move out all in the same week? It would not surprise me if half of the companies here were using responsible renters as a way to meet expenses caused by bad ones.

If this gets talked about a lot and renters seek assurances up front from landlords that deposits are only withheld for valid reasons, there should be progress. The city and tenants’ rights groups could also help in protecting good tenants.

Jim Shackelford
Bloomington, Ind.