University of Virginia Library

Off-Grounds Housing Profile Explains
Landlord, Tenant Rental Practices

By TIM WHEELER

—Ed.)

While the preceding article surveyed
the complex financial responsibilities of
landlords in Charlottesville, this article
will study off-grounds housing through a
breakdown of rents and fees. It will also
examine various landlord practices with
respect to student rentals and apartment
repairs.

In a breakdown of the rent package, or in a
determination of where a tenant's rent money
goes, by far the biggest slice of the package is
accounted for in the property owner's payment
on the mortgage of his land and buildings. The
exact proportion of the rent, however, that is
applied to repayment of the mortgage depends
on the terms of the loan and the current
interest rates.

Next largest of the slices taken out of a
tenant's rent goes toward the property owner's
payment of city or county property taxes.
Although the amount of taxes paid by each
landlord varies according to his property's
appraised value, C. Stuart Raynor, Jr., of
Alcova Realty, estimated that property taxes
made up approximately 15 per cent of a
tenant's rent.

Mr. Raynor offered 15 per cent too, as the
proportion of the rent applied to payment of
utilities, such as gas, electricity, and sewer
expenses. This figure will depend on which
utilities are supplied by the landlord.

Also, if apartments are maintained by a
management company or staff, an additional
5-6 per cent of the rent goes into the payment
of salaries for the managing staff.

Besides rents, there are also a number of
other deposits and fees to be paid by the
tenant. The largest and most controversial of
these is the security or damage deposit.
Landlord policies concerning security deposits
vary. Richard DeButts requires $25 a unit for
his furnished apartments, while Mr. Raynor
asks security deposits of $75 for a one bedroom
unfurnished apartment and $100 for a two
bedroom unfurnished apartment. Most
landlords interviewed placed these deposits in a
bank account, separate from other funds,
although Mr. Raynor mingled security deposits
with other operating funds.

Here the landlords noted a difference in the
security deposits charged to married tenants as
opposed to those asked of single students. The
security deposits quoted previously applied to
married tenants. Mr. DeButts extracts $25 per
tenant from single students, and Mr. Raynor
$50 per single tenant.

The reason offered by some landlords for
this discrepancy between deposits charged to
married tenants and single students was that
single students cause more damage to
apartments and leave them in a state of greater
fifth than their married counterparts. According
to one landlord, "97 per cent [of them] don't
clean up" their apartments.

However, in reference to whether students
are more irresponsible tenants than other
tenants, one local real estate agent, James
Marshall stated, "I don't think students are any
different than any other group of tenants, no
better and no worse." Mr. Raynor even noted
that of approximately 50-60 student tenants,
he had had only two cases of destructive
students.

Another discrepancy between married and
single tenants, of which students make up the
largest part in Charlottesville, is in the area if
rents itself. According to Mr. Raynor, a family
of four in a two-bedroom apartment would be
charged $170 a month, while four single
students in the same two-bedroom apartment
would have to pay $185 a month.

Other deposits and fees required by some
landlords include: pet deposits, ranging from
$25-50; extermination fees, $15; sublease fee,
$10-15 or ½ month's rent.