Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Thursday, November 24, 2005
Students propose Web site to rate good, bad landlords
Finding a good landlord is important to Winona State University junior Anne Dockendorf, who just began searching for a place to live next fall.
“If something goes wrong, if the sink is leaking, I need somebody there,” she said.
But finding a reliable landlord can be a gamble. Usually students must rely on first impressions.
“It’s a risk,” Dockendorf said.
The WSU student government hopes to improve the odds with an Internet site where students can rate landlords and rental properties.
Student senator Jared Stene, who is leading the project, said he would like to make the comments available online sometime next semester. First the student senate must check to ensure it can legally publish the information.
In less than a week, 380 students have completed an online survey that allows them to comment on their rental experience and rate their landlord, the property and the returned security deposit on a scale of one to five.
Stene wants to model the project on a Web site that allows students to rate professors at different universities and colleges. He wants it to be more than just a place to list grievances, but a way for students to credit great landlords.
A student committee will screen out inappropriate comments before publishing survey information, Stene said.
Currently, prospective tenants can review a property’s inspection file at Winona City Hall. But those reports won’t show if the landlord stops in at odd hours, doesn’t return deposits or keeps the heat low, building inspector Greg Olson said.
Olson said his department doesn’t advise renters on the quality of property owners.
Kent Grover, co-chairman of the Winona Housing Association, a coalition of landlords who own about half the city’s rental property, said he doesn’t know enough about the proposed project to comment on it.
The association and student senate are forming a committee in which tenants and landlords can advise each other and resolve rental problems.
If the proposed Web site becomes reality, Dockendorf plans to use it — so long as student comments are “mature.”
“I hope it actually goes because it’d be a good resource,” she said.
Reporter Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (507) 453-3519 or shannon.fiecke@winonadailynews.com.
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