Page 6 THE BATTALION
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1980
Local/ State
Security deposit trouble common
Students can get their rights if procedures are followed
By TIM MCALAVY
Battalion Reporter
With his thoughts on this summer’s job. Bill F. diligently
cleans his apartment prior to moving out. On the way out of
town he leaves his forwarding address with the apartment
manager.
One month later Bill receives a letter saying the apartment
management has changed and a welcome to return next year.
His security deposit refund is not mentioned. “Am I being
ripped off or just forgotten?” Bill wonders.
This is the most common question asked by some of the
24,000 students at Texas A&M University who are living off
campus this year. The answer is usually provided by the
binding legal document signed by the tenant and landlord: the
lease.
When puzzled by the conditions and legal translation of
their lease, most students consult Texas A&M Student Legal
Adviser Jim Locke.
Locke counsels students on the duties and responsibilities of
both landlord and tenant as outlined in Vernon’s Texas Civil
Statutes 5236, sections A-F.
“We consult with about 50 to 100 students a year who are
having problems with the return of their security deposit,”
Locke said.
Legally the student-tenant must leave without owing rent,
fulfill the lease agreement (term of occupancy), return the key,
and should not cause any damage other than normal wear and
tear.
The tenant must also give his landlord proper written
notice, usually 30 days, leave a forwarding address, and a
clean apartment.
Tenants cannot withhold any portion of the last month’s
rent, because the security deposit serves as security for this
unpaid rent.
By law, the landlord is bound to return the deposit and give
a written, itemized list of deductions for repairs and cleaning
within 30 days of the tenant’s moving out.
If the landlord fails, within 30 days, to return any or all of the
deposit, to a tenant for whom he has a forwarding address, he
must return the deposit without deducting anything, and can
not collect for any damages.
“The Texas Apartment Association lease is so pervasive in
this community that the student-tenant often has little
choice,” Locke said.
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In most cases, the terms for payment and refund of a tenant’s
security deposit are marked in boldface type in the standard
TAA lease.
“These conditions vary with the tendency of the landlord to
rewrite them, and students should be aware of this,” Locke
said.
When the landlord fails to return a security deposit of less
than $200 within 30 days, the student-tenant can file in the
small claims court to recover the money. Local justices of the
peace conduct this court.
In any court action brought by a tenant, the landlord must
prove that his retention of all or any part of the deposit is
reasonable.
For those student-tenants who want to negotiate the return
of their security deposit without going to court, the Off Cam
pus Center, a division of the Department of Student Affairs,
offers assistance in translating and applying security deposit
lease clauses.
Located in Puryear lounge, the OCC counsels students on
their legal rights as tenants and keeps a complaint Rle on
housing-related problems such as security deposit refunds.
An examination of the file revealed that 54 of the 93 apart
ment complexes in Bryan-College Station listed with the OCC
are owned by 15 large, multiple-mangement corporations.
Security deposit complaints were most common with large
apartment complexes such as Barcelona, Briarwood, Willow-
wick/Willowcreek, and Doux Chene.
OCC office coordinator Jan Winniford said, “Most students
are simply in the dark as to the duties and obligations entailed
in being a tenant."
Winniford explained that, in the past, most apartment com
plexes were owned by large corporations or investment com
panies, but that this trend is slowly reversing itself in the
community.
In keeping with this trend, the Bryan-College Station M j WASHIh
recently formed an ethics committee which created an ownei [oi
resident council.
This eight-man council includes two representatives from I
the Bryan and College Station mayors’ offices, two apartment |
owners, two apau-tment managers, Locke and Winniford.
Barbara Stone, chairman of the B-CS AA, said the counci I
was formed to alleviate the communications breakdown be ]
tween student-tenants and the local landlord.
“The members of the B-CS AA work together to lookoutfm I
•our members’ interests, and to loot out for the student- j
itenants’ interests as well,” Stone said.
The members of the AA are apartment owners.
Austin Tenant Council Director George Stone disagreed. Ii
;ers anc
third to
“The
Nati
lup forme
despite
vision v
a stud]
Time tii
per hou
and C
,e avers
hour.
an interview Stone said that Texas owner resident councilsare A violent
not consumer oriented.
“The only thing that’s going to do it for the students is for
them to act as their own advocates,” Stone said.
He explained that owner-resident councils often favor tie
position of their housing industry or realtor members.
He suggested that a student-tenant council affiliated will
the Texas Tenant’s Union, an organization of tenant councils in
several Texas cities whose purpose is to educate and organize
tenants, could be effective in solving security deposit conflicts
that characteristically increase with student enrollment at
state universities such as Texas A&M.
Stone offered pointers for student-tenants hoping to avoid
the dilemma of security deposit recovery:
— obtain a check-in, check-out list of all damamges to tie
apartment signed by both parties.
H and ho:
inst anot
EC’s “B
ties, aver
Dukes
■, the gi
lut on S
on C
twice tl
he grou
ildren’s p
rtment signed by txatn parties. //Vl
— Send the landlord the tenant’s forwarding address k FT J
certified mail. j
— Make sure that the landlord and tenant agree on what is umte
meant by the word “clean.” jjVASHIh
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FORT WORTH — On a summer
day nearly a half-century ago, Basil
Muse Hatfield, a 350-pound,
bearded soldier of fortune, shipped
out of Fort Worth on a 9,000-mile
voyage to spread the gospel of the
Trinity River to anybody who would
listen.
“The Trinity basin is more fertile
than the fabled Nile acreages,” Hat
field said with a wave of his battered
Stetson.
“Big industry is coming into this
territory, whether you try for it or
not, whether you want it or not.
These vast resources of the Trinity
will result in development beyond
your wildest dreams. ”
It was Aug. 22, 1933, and Hatfield
was addressing a crowd convened on
the Trinity’s bank to see the 26-foot
flatboat, the “Texas Steer,” off on its
voyage to Chicago and back via con
necting inland waterways.
At the moment of departure, the
Fort Worth Blue Bonnet String
Band played “Over the Waves.”
Hatfield waved grandly from the
helm, and his crew of four, obviously
adventure-starved men began to row
steadily toward Chicago.
At one point, he declared he
would prove that the Trinity, even in
its natural state, was navigable.
Farther downriver, he said the
voyage was “to impress on the public
the importance of flood control,
curbing of soil erosion and develop
ment of waterways. ”
Some observers speculated the
trip was motivated by another case of
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Hatfield wanderlust that was backed
by a few Fort Worth businessmen on
the off-chance that the commodore
might fire some politicians’ interests
in rechanneling the Trinity, making
it navigable from Tarrant County to
the Gulf of Mexico.
Hatfield, indeed, was susceptible
to wanderlust. He had left his
Washington-on-the Brazos birth
place to participate in China’s Boxer
Rebellion, work as a construction en
gineer on Russia’s Trans-Siberian
Railroad and fight for England in the
Boer War in South Africa.
Then followed periods of gold
mining in Borneo and oil exploration
in India, the Balkans, Central and
South America and Alaska. The be
ginning of World War I found Hat
field in Mexico, where a poorly cal
culated alliance with a local revolu
tionary faction sent him scurrying
back to Texas.
Fifteen years later, Hatfield —
then more than 60 years old — was
piloting the “Texas Steer” past
Arlington, Grand Prairie, Dallas, Li
berty and on downriver.
When the boat reached deeper
water, the crew put aside its oars and
constructed a launch to shove and
tug the flatboat over rocks and sand
bars and across wider expanses of
water.
Eventually, Hatfield and Com
pany glided from the Trinity into
Galveston Bay, along intracoastal
channels to the Mississippi River,
then up the Mississippi to other link
ing waterways and on to Chicago.
Hatfield had intended to reach
tercy, in
iate Fori
met \
taid Bre:
Chicago before the close of tie
Century of Progress Exhibition
he was a little late. The
reached the city in time
reopening of the fair in 1934 idrei Gro
The tardiness was not be® feers in
poor navigation but because oil jek in Me
field’s inclination to stop at f Bn his re
farm, hamlet and city towhoopi ft Sunda;
for the Trinity and eat asquaret sit-elect 1
The welcoming committees * ((m Brusse
numerous, considering most pspions am
he met along the river neveijiiii new m
heard of the project he was inti:!'•‘I gave h
ing and were wholly unprepaittjld, feeli
his goodwill offerings. mey said,
But as the “Texas Steer ndlncled tha
the end of its voyage, press drab discuss
es were transmitted in delugesiarms lin
the world took note of the felloe rcy a
On May 10, 1935, the flal|
nosed into the rapids atRandol!
just below Fort Worth,
ped ashore, bellowing
“out of groceries” and asserting
“there has been dignity abo
trip.”
Next day, the above-l
accounts says, the skipper anJJ
set their cables, hoisted the Is | 1
up the rapids and pressed on lol fC I
:ho
Worth. i Un . (e
But no matter. Hundredso(|WASHII
pie lined the Belknap Street) 1 ' IkCongn
railings to witness the home«*»xpected
The scow and its skipper were (®'i n g i hip
ded up Main Street. 'IlieFort"&rams, a
Chamber of Commerce prorfjt year’s
the commodore to first admiral.' The usual
Trinity and gave him $500 an(b)n| series o
Stetson for his trouble.
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