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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A settlement has been approved after a class-action lawsuit was filed against an Iowa City off-campus student housing provider over illegal fees and the withholding of unreasonable amounts from security deposits.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen (http://icp-c.com/2assqBO ) reports that a tenants' rights group, called Iowa Tenants' Project, filed the lawsuit in December 2010 on behalf of former tenant Michael Conroy and other renters.
A judge approved the certification of a class action lawsuit last July, and the housing provider appealed the decision.
The settlement includes $65 repayments to about 14,000 tenants who rented from Apartments Downtown and Apartments Near Campus, which have the same owner, from 2010 to 2014.
Lease provisions for the apartments that were ruled to be illegal included charging an automatic carpet-cleaning fee, regardless whether the carpet was clean or not, and shifting responsibility for repair and maintenance to tenants, including in common areas of a building.
The settlement also establishes a complaint process, which allows tenants to submit a written complaint that the housing provider has 10 days to resolve before an Iowa Tenants' Project attorney will examine its validity.
Chris Warnock, an attorney with the Iowa Tenants' Project, said that the complaint process is about mediation.
"A lot of what we're doing is explaining things to tenants, especially the ins and outs of the law. But by having this in place, tenants will immediately have someone to speak on their behalf and to try and settle disagreements out of court," Warnock said.
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Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, http://www.press-citizen.com/
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