Crooked Landlords:101

It’s a Hoya rite of passage to leave the (dis)comforts of on-campus housing for the freedom of a townhouse in Burleith or West Georgetown. And while being free from DoPS and resident directors is a major bonus, Hoyas often realize that landlords aren’t much of a step up.

Georgetown landlords are notorious for screwing over student tenants. It’s a fact of life. You sign the lease and the landlord takes your soul (or at least your down payment... good luck getting that back). For some reason, these property owners feel that it is perfectly acceptable to rob poor students dry.

What seems unfair to me is the number of people who pay a sizeable down payment and then never see a dime of it returned when their lease is up. My guess is that the big bad landlord thinks that stupid college kids won’t know to fight it. Translation: an easy buck.

Luckily for us, there are a few select students fighting their way through the legal system as I write this...fighting not so much for the money but to show the cash-hungry owners that they can’t always get away with it.

Here’s some good advice for those who plan on signing a lease in the near future. Remember that a lease is a binding legal contract, but certain clauses that often appear in our leases just aren’t so legal.



“Tenant will pay all attorney and court fees”—No way. That’s up to the judge to decide.

“Waiver of duty to repair”—Nice try, Slick. The landlord can never ask for the tenants to pay for maintenance or upkeep of housing codes.

Waiver of liability (meaning the Landlord takes no financial responsibility in the event of damage or events requiring insurance)—False. Especially not if caused by negligence on their part.

“Waiver of right to a trial by jury”—Not happening. Although some contracts can force binding mediation, a lease in DC cannot.



Basically, there are a lot of scum-bag landlords out there waiting to take advantage of the naive Georgetown student. Don’t be that Hoya. Play it smart and make sure you back all your claims and leases so your landlord knows that you mean business, and keep the G Spot posted on how that works out for you.