2008 Woodie Awards
Univ. View tenants say utility bills unfairly distributed
Carrie Wells
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News
Students living at the University View are being charged vastly unequal amounts for utilities in a building that has no way of monitoring an individual apartment's energy use.
Dozens of interviews with tenants and energy bills obtained by The Diamondback show the View is not following its own policy in charging residents for utilities. View owner Otis Warren noted the formula, outlined in leases, has some kinks, but analyses of students' bills show widespread discrepancies when most bills should have been about the same.
Students said they were unhappy with the discrepancies in the utility bills, but said the time commitment involved in fighting with management was overwhelming. Still, a scattered group complained, and a few students interviewed said they simply resorted to not paying the bills as a way to "fight back."
"I don't understand why [some] people are paying $6, and I'm paying $78," said Christopher Amerasinghe, a junior economics major. "I do want to live here, but I think what we pay is through the roof. If we're paying that much rent, I don't know where it's going."When the apartment building was built, Warren had planned to incorporate utilities into tenants' rents, distributing costs evenly. Though most apartment buildings in the area have individual utility meters, he installed only three in an effort to cut costs because the meters are expensive. The meters were sufficient for the old policy.
But in November, as energy costs rose around the country, the View changed its policy and began charging tenants for utilities in addition to rent - sometimes as much as $1,000 on its own - using a formula based on apartment size.
"For two years we ate the whole thing, but it's not my fault utilities are going through the ceiling," Warren said. "There's always going to be someone who's not pleased. Wait until they buy a house."
That's when the discrepancies started, students say. Residents' monthly bills have been drastically different from apartment to apartment, and in some cases, from room to room, even though apartments vary less than 30 percent in size. Some students reported no monthly bills, while others said they paid as much as $80 a month. Some students had bills that rose every month, while others had bills that decreased every month.
Dozens of interviews with tenants and energy bills obtained by The Diamondback show the View is not following its own policy in charging residents for utilities. View owner Otis Warren noted the formula, outlined in leases, has some kinks, but analyses of students' bills show widespread discrepancies when most bills should have been about the same.
Students said they were unhappy with the discrepancies in the utility bills, but said the time commitment involved in fighting with management was overwhelming. Still, a scattered group complained, and a few students interviewed said they simply resorted to not paying the bills as a way to "fight back."
"I don't understand why [some] people are paying $6, and I'm paying $78," said Christopher Amerasinghe, a junior economics major. "I do want to live here, but I think what we pay is through the roof. If we're paying that much rent, I don't know where it's going."When the apartment building was built, Warren had planned to incorporate utilities into tenants' rents, distributing costs evenly. Though most apartment buildings in the area have individual utility meters, he installed only three in an effort to cut costs because the meters are expensive. The meters were sufficient for the old policy.
But in November, as energy costs rose around the country, the View changed its policy and began charging tenants for utilities in addition to rent - sometimes as much as $1,000 on its own - using a formula based on apartment size.
"For two years we ate the whole thing, but it's not my fault utilities are going through the ceiling," Warren said. "There's always going to be someone who's not pleased. Wait until they buy a house."
That's when the discrepancies started, students say. Residents' monthly bills have been drastically different from apartment to apartment, and in some cases, from room to room, even though apartments vary less than 30 percent in size. Some students reported no monthly bills, while others said they paid as much as $80 a month. Some students had bills that rose every month, while others had bills that decreased every month.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 12
View resident
posted 4/15/08 @ 10:11 AM EST
Customer satisfaction? No, there's a shortage of housing and Warren is taking advantage of that by inflating the prices. It's not our fault that the building was made out of cheap materials and everything needs to be replaced not even three years after opening. (Continued…)
S Wood
posted 4/15/08 @ 12:02 PM EST
Where is the student activism now days? Doesn't anyone know how to form a complaint group? MARYPIRG or the PG Office of consumer affairs should be your first steps to solving this issue. (Continued…)
C Amerasinghe
posted 4/15/08 @ 12:17 PM EST
S Wood - Not everything can be turned into a project. Filing a report requires documentation. Getting the documentation legally through the lease terms took over a month. (Continued…)
fuck the view
posted 4/15/08 @ 1:06 PM EST
Otis Warren is a real piece of shit. My roommate and I have $70 credits each month towards utilities and still pay an additional $40-$60 on top of that. (Continued…)
Ann Adult
posted 4/15/08 @ 1:20 PM EST
Children, the cost of energy is going up. Read a newspaper or listen to a real news program.
N.S.
posted 4/15/08 @ 5:35 PM EST
I am SO glad the Diamondback reported on this as I have been in disbelief over these discrepancies the past few months. A friend's apartment, of which is the exact same size, has consistently been paying at least ten times less each month in utilities than my apartment has been forced to pay. (Continued…)
sachi
Kathryn
posted 4/16/08 @ 12:02 AM EST
I was under the distinct impression that if a contract was changed without notifying one of the parties (or if a contract could be changed "without warning" by one party) it was illegal. (Continued…)
Kathryn
posted 4/16/08 @ 2:39 AM EST
Thanks for that piece of advice; I'll definitely do that!
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