Attorney in case against Iowa City landlord: fight not over

IOWA CITY - The attorney at the center of a class-action lawsuit against Iowa City's largest landlord says there's still a long way to go before anyone gets paid, however, he says it's not about the money.

'That [money] has never been what people are about, what we're trying to do is change things for the better for every tenant,” said attorney Christopher Warnock.

Earlier this week a judge ruled that a lease used by Apartments Downtown from 2010 until 2014 violated the Iowa Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act. The ruling could result in a multimillion dollar payout to tenants who signed it. Each tenant in that time frame could receive between $100 and $500, Warnock estimated.

The lease 'violated the Landlord Tenant Act by charging for automatic carpet cleaning, illegally charging tenants for maintenance and repair, charging illegal fines, penalties and set damages and illegally releasing Apartments Downtown from liability,” according to Warnock.

Warnock, who has fought landlords for years over leasing issues, said the ruling is a major wake-up call for landlords across the state.

'The landlords want you [the tenant] to pay for the next tenant coming in, that's an expense that they need to cover themselves,” he said. 'They need to take care of that professional carpet cleaning and that's been found to be illegal.”

Warnock said people looking to collect from the class action lawsuit should not contact him.

'If the time comes we will contact them,” he said. 'I would love to sit down with them [Apartments Downtown] and say, you know, if you guys will change how you will treat your tenants, we're willing to work with you, but in the end if they're not willing to do that, we'll have no choice but to seek what at this point is a multimillion dollar award against them.”

A phone message left with Apartments Downtown went unreturned Thursday afternoon.