Is anyone actually aware of either a landlord or an "enterprising leasee" pulling a stunt like this beyond talk radio hearsay?
As a "landlord" in Dinkytown (fraternity housing board member), the only houses I am aware of around the U that have 20 or more occupants are the Greek houses, many of which are huge and are designed for 30-40 occupants. And as a U graduate, what I recall from the "enterprising leasees" were the students that shared a duplex or other off-campus housing that would hold house parties every weekend with several kegs and charge $5 or so for a cup and you could drink all you wanted. That's how some college students paid their rent. It was quite common in the rental housing along 15th Ave near Van Cleve Park, which I believe is right around where this duplex that caught fire on Friday was located. Also, in the Minnesota Daily today, another possibility was expressed about problems with the Eischens duplex, which was that, according to a neighbor, a smoke alarm may have been tampered with by the tenants. If that's the case, I'm not sure how you could blame the landlord for that. Are they supposed to inspect properties daily to make sure tenants aren't screwing around with that stuff? Find the story online at: http://www.daily.umn.edu/articles/2003/09/22/6633 Also, as Terrell pointed out, not every violation is due to safety. You can have code violations for things like a car parked on the grass in a yard or trash in the yard or grass/weeds that need to be trimmed or removed. Even so, I still think 600-something violations is still pretty insane, even for 30-some properties over seven years. You'd think at some point, landlords would learn to anticipate stuff and fix it before the city has to get involved and all the hassles that come with that. I don't know if we need to change our housing policies so much as we need to staff Inspections sufficiently so that they can actually be enforced. Mark Snyder Windom Park On 9/22/03 5:56 PM, "Dennis Plante" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > More than likely, in the case of houses where there are 20 inhabitants each > paying $350/mo., some enterprising leasee (college student) is the one > charging the inhabitants, not the landlord. > > Dennis Plante > Jordan > > Bill Dooley Writes: > > I have not read all of this thread so this may have been covered earlier. > One parent called into a talk radio station and said his son was living in a > converted duplex with 20 other students and the landlord was charging each > students $350 per month! He said he had pulled his daughter out of another > house because it was a firetrap. He says he was lucky he was able to inspect > his daughter's housing situation but that it would be hard for out-of-state > parents to check, especially when the child is excited about moving off > campus and living with his or her friends and assures the parent every thing > is OK. Comment #1: I had no idea these houses generate this much income. > Comment #2: Out-of-state parents have the responsibility to check their > children's living arrangements. > > Bill Dooley > Kenny REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
