Ryan Bilsky, sophomore accounting major and White Hall Terrace resident, returned from class three weeks ago to find ants swarming his kitchen. Apparently, some crumbs from the bread in the corner of their kitchen had attracted an army of ants.

“I was not very happy about that situation, but I learned you have to always keep the kitchen clean,” he said.

Bilsky said he takes pride in being a clean and respectful tenet, but like most first-time renters, he is learning on the fly how to care for an apartment and deal with neighbors.

“The biggest problem students have is that there are no parents to take care of them,” said Phil Segel, the property manager of Eagles Point. “They have to learn their decisions have consequences.”

Segel, and other Kent landlords agree the common characteristics of a good tenet include; knowing the terms of your lease, being clean and respecting your neighbors.

According to Ryan’s Place property manager Kathy Burkley, the biggest issue she has with tenets is when they do not read and understand the terms of their lease before they sign it.

Holly Park property manager Debbie Wells agreed, saying many people do not know the terms of their leases.

“Halfway through the year I get students coming in here saying, ‘We didn’t know that,’ and I tell them it’s in the lease you signed,” Wells said. “Then most of them tell me they didn’t read it.”

Carol Crimi Szabo, the senior staff attorney for Student Legal Services, said almost 25 to 30 percent of the cases SLS involve landlords and tenets. Most of those problems, Szabo said, involve not being able to fulfill a lease or getting a security deposit back.

According to Szabo, you can avoid problems by thoroughly reading your lease before signing it.

She also said renters should make sure the people you agree to live with are responsible because if they move out or cause damage, you become liable for that apartment and the payments.

Another issue, according to Wells, is student renters not taking responsibility for their apartments. She specifically noted the destruction and vandalism some student renters or their guests cause. This includes holes in walls and doors and damage to the hallways and light fixtures.

She said this commonly occurs when renters have gatherings of 20 or 30 people that grow to 50 or 60 strangers. Then when one of the uninvited guests starts destroying things, the residents wrongly assume they’re not responsible.

“When you have a party, you’re responsible for all your guests, whether you invited them or not,” Wells said.

Cleanliness is another issue for most student renters. Wells said most tenets are clean and take care of their apartments, but when one student gets lazy and leaves the trash in the hall, it can contaminate the entire complex because it rubs off on others.

“We’ve never had cockroaches here but when you don’t take your trash out it’s like putting up a sign ‘calling all cockroaches,’ ” Wells said.

Ted Hays, the owner of three University Townhomes units, said he agrees.

“The biggest issue is helping (renters) understand what clean is,” Hays said. Students should be cleaning at least once a month and probably more, he said.

“Some renters go the entire year without cleaning,” Hays said.

Most of all, however, many landlords agree the most important thing for renters to remember is respecting their neighbors.

“Essentially, as long as people act responsibly and are polite to their neighbors, there is no reason they would hear from me,” Segel said.

Wells said landlords usually understand that college kids have an active social life, and they try to accommodate that. However, she reminds renters that they’re not the only ones who live in their complex, or neighborhood, and that other residents pay good money not to have to live in filth or with loud noise.

Contact College of Education reporter Joseph A. Stanonik at [email protected].