BG students go to court over secuity deposits

The BG News, campus paper for Bowling Green State University, today published an article revealing that in the past two years there have been 14 student lawsuits over security deposits filed against BG landlords, including five against the owners of Copper Beech Townhouses.

Students have claimed that their security deposits were withheld erroneously at the end of their leases.

At issue in at least one Copper Beech case was the company's requirement that tenants hire a professional carpet cleaner before vacating the property. The requirement seems to be at odds with Ohio law which, according to BG News writer Cassandra Shofar, states, "tenants are not responsible for normal 'wear and tear' on a residence. You cannot be held accountable for cleaning costs unless the cleaning required is excessive or constitutes some sort of damage. For example, you cannot be charged for carpet cleaning, unless you damaged the carpet."

The article cites a similar case against Winthrop Terrace, in which a security deposit was withheld from a student for carpet cleaning. The 2005 case, Shofar reports, was dismissed and Winthrop returned the student's full deposit.

Bowling Green students are offered two pieces of advice in order to avoid disagreements about their security deposits: Document all of the rental's flaws and items of disrepair upon moving in, and take advantage of the university's Student Legal Services both when signing a lease and again later, if disagreements arise.