Any student renter in Ann Arbor has heard horror stories about exploitative and negligent landlords. Students are too often at a disadvantage in lease agreements because they don’t know what rights housing laws afford them. It's time for that to change.

KNOWING WHEN NOT TO SIGN

It’s October, and you found that perfect sophomore year house, still within earshot of Markley. Your six roommates are psyched to sign the lease before someone else snags it, and your first instinct is to seal the deal as quickly as possible. But what you really need to do is take your time and read the lease closely — there are a variety of tricky clauses that can cause trouble with your landlord later on.

Ann Arbor’s “Rights and Duties of Tenants” handbook lists a number of unlawful clauses that landlords sometimes include in lease agreements to discourage tenants from taking legal action against them. For example, the law does not allow clauses that prohibit you from attaining a jury trial or stipulate that you must pay for the landlord’s legal fees. These clauses are unenforceable by law, and landlords know this — don’t be intimidated.

Gayle Rosen, an attorney at Student Legal Services who handles housing disputes, said that she does not see many unlawful clauses in the cases she handles. But if something in your lease seems suspicious, have a tenant lawyer at Student Legal Services examine it. In the case that the clause doesn’t hold up, you’ll be able to move into your new place with the knowledge that you would be entitled to your full legal rights if you ever needed to use them.

But there are plenty of subtler problems that can be spelled out in leases ahead of time. Landlords cannot waive the ability to sue for negligent upkeep, but they can transfer some of the responsibility for keeping the house up to code to tenants. For example, many leases require tenants to take the trash out or shovel snow from the walk. Think about the place you’re looking to rent — in a big house split into several apartments, these jobs might be bigger than you want to take on.

One trend that Rosen warns about is a security deposit waiver, which would have you sign over your security deposit to the people who move in the following year. The expectation is that the new tenant would then be responsible for paying you the value of your deposit. Landlords most often present this waiver when only some of the tenants in a house plan to move. It saves the landlord the time and cost of processing separate security deposits, but could mean a giant financial headache for you.

The simplest thing that students overlook when signing a lease is how the moving dates coincide with the University’s academic schedule. We all want to enjoy a good, long Welcome Week, but many leases technically start after the first football game. While most landlords will allow tenants to move in early, pay close attention to what you’re agreeing to. Many landlords charge a fee for early move-ins. Many also refuse to clean the residence if tenants move in early. If yours does both, you’re downright getting screwed.

Also, take a look at your move-out date. If yours is in the first half of August, you might be upset when your landlord expects full rent for that half month. Ask if the cost of August can be prorated to exclude the last few weeks. It might not work, but it’s worth a shot. Always remember that you have the ability to negotiate. You are a customer buying a product that your landlord is selling.

MOVING INTO A MESS

Excited to move into your new house, you find that the cute older house you toured last year has transformed into a pigsty. There is rat poop in the cupboards and mysterious carpet stains in every room. On top of that, the kitchen sink makes an ominous gurgling sound like it might not hold out much longer. If there are problems from the onset, you need to be prepared to deal with them later on.

Don’t let your landlord off the hook for not cleaning your place. You’re paying to live in a residence as if it’s your own, not to have the privilege of rifling through the former tenants’ old junk.

“You have the right to a clean, sanitary dwelling before you move in, even if your lease says it does not have to be clean,” reads the city’s “Rights and Duties of Tenants” handbook.

Some landlords push tenants to sign cleaning waivers absolving them of the obligation to clean between leases. Such waivers are only legal some of the time — such as when tenants waive cleaning for the chance to move in early. If you signed one, show it to a tenant lawyer to see how it checks out. If you didn’t sign one, you can demand that your landlord have the place cleaned regardless of when you moved in.

In the instance that your landlord fails to comply with your request, you may be able to receive compensation for cleaning the place yourself.