Students on the lookout for tips on property management groups around town have a new resource in Western graduate Kamran Rahman’s RankMyPropertyManager.com.

After moving out of the Bellingham apartment he and fellow Western graduate Brian Augenthaler shared for seven months, Rahman and his roomates awaited the return of their security deposit.

Despite three days of cleaning beforehand, Rahman said the charges still reflected more than half of the original $775 deposit.

“They complained about things like we didn’t replace the oven drip pan [and] we left a bobby pin on a cleared space,” he said by phone from his home in Seattle. “What they charged us for were a few different things that were pictured on the papers and some of the things that were pictured on the paper weren’t charges, so it was really confusing.”

Rahman and Augenthaler took the company to small-claims court to contest the charges but after waiting six months for a hearing, a continuance pushed the date back five months, Rahman said.

“It was really frustrating because I came to realize that, sure, I could file an appeal to the judge’s decision, but that would take another year and take a lot of money and a lot of time and as students, we don’t have those resources for the most part,” he said. “A lot of property managers are able to take advantage of that.”

It was this, as well as several other stories about students’ frustration and dissatisfaction with property management companies, that inspired Rahman to start up www.RankMyPropertyManager.com.

“Every college student is going to have a bad experience, at least once, with the place they live in," he said.  "I feel like that affected me enough and I’ve heard enough complaints from my friends—and of course I’ve had my own grievances.  I feel like it can be better put to work in something creative rather than just being angry or upset."

Approximately two-thirds of Western’s student population lives off campus each year, said Lara Welker, coordinator for the Campus Community Coalition at Western, said.
Western senior Leif Olsen is one of those students.

“They basically don’t care at all about the well-being of their tenants,” he said of his former property managers. “[They'll just do] whatever to make a buck. They’ll never go any extra mile. If rent is due on a weekend, they just make it due earlier.”

Olsen, who is still dealing with problems from his previous apartment, said he thought the Web site would be a good idea for a college town such as Bellingham.

“After having this experience, it definitely does make me go, ‘Even if I like the place, like the price, I still want to know more about it,’” he said.

Chester Shaw, the senior property manager at Son-Rise Property Management in Bellingham, said he appreciated the Web site because it allows people to express themselves unfettered, but warned contributors they still need to be responsible for what they say on the forum and not hide behind anonymity.

“If you really have a case, why would you fear retribution?” he said.

While Rahman said he expects many reviewers will be acting out of emotion, he said the Web site is also there for people to discuss the companies with which renters had good experiences.

“I think it will be super effective just because of the fact that they have Web sites like this for professors, restaurants and whatnot, and I figured what better Web site for students than one that allows them to look into who they’re signing their contracts with for the next year or the next nine months,” he said.

“I know that a lot of students do learn the ropes, so to speak, including some tips for how to go about things, specific rental owners to either go with or avoid, but it’s been fairly sort of word of mouth, not as formalized or centralized as a Web site,” Welker said.

Sixty to 65 percent of Son-Rise Property Management’s tenants are students, Shaw said. Prospective tenants should consider friends’ experiences with property management groups when looking for a place to live, he said. Similarly, though, they should consider accounts that have been filtered through official channels, such as the Better Business Bureau, that are designed to control the emotional element, he said.

While the site is currently used mostly by students, Rahman said he encourages representatives from the companies to contribute by responding to reviews.

Shaw said there is a high success rate of rental issues being resolved without having to go to court, but there would only be so much progress made on the Web site without unlawfully disclosing details of any particular issue. Communication is important, though, and anything that led to the two parties sitting down would be worth the time, he said.

“It’s important to realize in almost every situation where there’s some sort of problem that probably, maybe not always, but probably, both parties contributed to it in some way,” Welker said. “I think that’s a really helpful starting point.”

Welker works with rental property owners and landlords as well as bars, restaurants and the police department to inform students about living off campus. Part of her work includes educating students about what they can do to cultivate good relationships with property managers and neighbors. Sometimes, this includes disproving stereotypes of studentrenters, she said.

“They might feel like there are some young kids who take up some properties and mess them up or are late on their rent or just don’t pay their rent and get evicted; I can see that happening,” Rahman said.

Despite the fact that many students can be and are responsible renters, those who are not can lead property managers and neighbors to have preconceived notions about new student tenants, Welker said.

“The more students who can really shine in terms of how neighborly they are, how responsible they are, how clean they are, how communicative they are—all those things—I do believe that can make a difference in terms of counteracting those negative impressions,” she said.

She said students who want to pursue legal action can visit the Associated Students Legal Information Center. Both Shaw and Welker recommended the use of third-party mediators such as conflict resolution services.

“Both parties do have to agree to come together for mediation but usually in one session the issue can be resolved to both parties’ satisfaction,” she said. “That’s often a cheaper and less adversarial route.”

Comments (1)

Posted by Zonemaven, on Oct. 03, 2009 10:32AM This article is an encouraging sign on the part of students who have had to endure the vagaries of an uncontrolled, unregulated and unlicensed rental market for decades. For their own health and welfare, students should assist in ensuring that the City of Bellingham pass and enforce a rental licensing law. I have spoken to this issue many times in my blog, Twilight Zoning in Bellingham. My latest blog entry is entitled "WWU Students Fight Back in the Rental Market - And with Reason" and lays out more of a rationale for students to take action. I invite you to visit my blog at www.zonemaven.blogspot.com and post your comments regarding rentals in Bellingham and licensing these businesses. Report

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