Complaints of poor maintenance in buildings below housing code and reports of slow response time from property owners are extremely common among student tenants in Madison. According to court documents filed last week, the parents of Brittany Zimmermann, who was slain in her West Doty St. apartment on April 2, the inaction of Zimmermann's landlord, Wisconsin Management, Inc., played a role in her murder.
The documents reveal that the Madison police informed Jean and Kevin Zimmermann of a hollow-core (front) door with a cheap lock,"" according to the Wisconsin State Journal, which was kicked in at the time of the murder. Furthermore, the documents also state that Jordan Gonnering, Zimmermann's fiancé, filed several complaints about the locks with the landlord but received no response.
Whether or not Wisconsin Management Co. is directly at fault for Brittany Zimmermann's murder, these reports exacerbate a common complaint amongst tenants in Madison. Renter's rights in Madison are very poorly advertised and known throughout Madison. Ownership companies such as Wisconsin Management, Inc. that fail to comply to complaints such as those reported by students such as Zimmermann's fiancé, back many students into a corner without knowledge of viable options.
Although relatively unknown to students, they have rights to pursue a third parties' intervention. Students must be aware of the many viable options available to them, such as the Madison 's Building Inspection Division.
According to Madison Housing Inspections Supervisor Tom Adamowicz, the inspection division honors tenant complaints when landlords fail to process them and dispatches inspectors several days after filing the complaint. If the inspected building fails to meet code, the committee forces the landlord to fix anything below housing code, such as flimsy doors or cheap locks by a specific date. Failure to meet this deadline brings the potential for legal action against the landlord.
The housing inspection committee should not have to bear the bulk of disgruntled students, either. To hold landlords more accountable for prolonged inaction, the inspection committee should fine any property owners that cause students to contact them due to lack of results. Further advertising third-party options such as the Housing Inspection Committee will place more responsibility in the hands of the landlords to answer tenant complaints in a timely fashion.
Rental properties in Madison are a gigantic cash cow, and the onus is on the landlords to heed the concerns of students who are paying sizable amounts of money for a safe place to live. The only effective way to do this is to hit landlords in their pocketbooks and present them with consequences for their inaction.
