Advocates decry Towson lease terms
They claim apartment complex in violation making students pay
Aspen Heights Towson, an apartment complex for college students, is still under construction — a fact that came as a surprise to hundreds of students who expected to move in Aug. 22, the Saturday before the fall semester began.
Students and their families were notified just eight days prior that they would not be able to move in. But they’re still being asked to pay rent, per a clause in their leases.
The management company contends that the leasing terms are common for student housing, but a tenants rights advocate and a consumer protection attorney say that clause violates state law.
Expecting to start her senior year at Towson University, Katie M., who asked that her last name not be used fearing for repercussions from apartment management, signed a $1,224 a month lease in February for a twobedroom apartment with Aspen Heights Towson.
But two weeks after her scheduled move-in date, the apartment complex remains unfinished; Katie started her fall semester remotely at her parents’ home in New Jersey, despite paying almost a full month of August rent as a deposit.
The management company said in an email Monday it expected to receive its occupancy permit for floors seven and below this week. In a Wednesday email, it told tenants that county building inspectors “found several items that are resulting in additional delays.”
The 13-floor development at 101 York Road can accommodate up to 611 tenants, with the first two floors being commercial space.
Texas-based Aspen Heights Partners, which owns several dozen student apartment buildings in the Midwest and Southeast, notified tenants in an Aug. 14 email that they would not be able to move Aug. 22 as scheduled because “of a minor delay from Kinsley Construction,” the contractor, due to the coronavirus pandemic that postponed final inspections.
Aspen Heights Towson, managed by Breckenridge Property Management, has a master lease agreement with Towson University to provide student housing .
The lease agreements require tenants to pay rent, even if the management company fails “to deliver possession of the leased premises to tenant at the commencement of the term.” The lease did say management would provide alternative housing for tenants should the need arise — as required by state law — and that once students have secured those housing arrangements, their apartment leases begin.
“It’s not the move-in experience we want for our residents,” wrote Tom Hendry, general manager of Aspen Heights Towson, in an email to Amy Maschal, a Towson student who started an online petition calling on Aspen Heights to refund students’ rent paid for rooms that cannot be occupied.
“Please know, however, we are abiding by the terms you agreed to,” Hendry wrote.
Requiring tenants to pay rent for a building that is not permitted to be inhabited is illegal, according to consumer protection attorney Matthew Vocci and Carol Ott, tenant advocacy director for the Maryland Fair Housing Action Center.
“If you sign a lease with a landlord, and the property is not [suitable] for you to move in, then your landlord is indeed responsible,” Ott said.
Vocci, an attorney with Towson law firm Santoni, Vocci & Ortega, pointed to a clause in the Maryland Real Property Code addressing single and multifamily rentals that states: “If the landlord fails to provide the tenant with possession of the dwelling unit at the beginning of the term of any lease, the rent payable under the lease shall abate until possession is delivered. The tenant, on written notice to the landlord before possession is delivered, may terminate, cancel, and rescind the lease.”
The landlord is also responsible to pay back “all money” given as “prepaid rent, deposit or security,” according to state law.
The Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division also wrote in a guidebook for landlords and tenants that: “If a landlord doesn’t allow you to take possession of your rental unit at the beginning of your lease, you have the right to cancel the lease with written notice to the landlord.“
Matthew Rinker, regional director for Aspen Heights Partners, wrote in a statement the clause is in accordance with state law.
“Our lease agreements specifically state that the parties agree that the premises to be delivered are the Aspen apartment or alternative accommodations provided by Aspen at our expense,” Rinker wrote.
“We too are extremely disappointed the pandemic has led to construction delays that are causing postponed move-in dates for residents, and we’ll continue to pay for alternative housing at costs that exceed the amount of rent collected from impacted residents,” Rinker wrote.
Since Towson University announced it will close its campus to most classes and reimburse students for 100% of their housing costs during the fall semester, a university spokesman said they have been working to bail out roughly 200 students who signed leases through the university to live at Aspen Heights.
Students who signed leases directly with Breckenridge Property Management do not have that out.
“She signed a lease because [she thought she would] be at school,” said Kimberly Maschal, Amy’s mother.
“Now they don’t have to be there … that’s bothersome.”