I.C. landlords accused in 2 additional lawsuits

IOWA CITY - An Iowa City attorney determined to halt illegal landlord practices that he said have “systematically ripped off” thousands of student renters for years has filed new lawsuits in Johnson County small claims court against the “Clark family rental empire.”

Attorney Christopher Warnock said Joseph and James Clark, who own a large property management company in Iowa City that goes by names including Apartments Downtown and Apartments Near Campus, have a “systematized way of extracting money from tenants.”

Warnock said he wants a judge to force the Clark family to clean up its leases and start treating renters fairly.

“This is a scandal for the city,” he said. “It's an embarrassment to Iowa City that we are allowing this to go on.”

Warnock filed a class-action lawsuit against Apartments Downtown in December 2010, seeking damages and injunctive relief for violations of the Iowa landlord-tenant statute. As that case and another similar lawsuit filed last October continue to wind through the legal system, Warnock filed small claims suits Monday alleging parallel violations.

In one of this week's lawsuits, Warnock accuses the Clarks of slapping a renter with a $600 fine after her dad stopped by her apartment with the family dog. Warnock said the dog was there for a only short time on a single day and didn't cause any damage.

According to exhibits filed with the lawsuit, a representative for the landlord sent a letter to the tenant acknowledging that her father had complained about unclear rules and extreme fees.

“(The parent) stated that he knew the lease said that a dog could not live there but didn't understand that it could not visit,” according to the letter.

Warnock said a landlord can't charge exorbitant fees: “If it costs $50 to replace a window, you can't charge $500.”

The second lawsuit involves a tenant whose door was damaged when her apartment was burglarized over Christmas, Warnock said. The landlord, he said, charged the tenant to fix it.

Warnock said many leases in Iowa City contain illegal clauses, and he wants to enable tenants to defend themselves in court. He's set up a “Tenants Project” website that outlines instructions for filing small claim lawsuits. The goal, he said, is to protect student renters.

“Our main focus is on cleaning up leases,” Warnock said, adding that he's asking for monetary damages because “They are not going to pay attention without damages.”

“We want them to straighten up and fly right and start treating tenants fairly,” he said.

Joe Holland, representing Apartments Downtown, declined to comment about the specific allegations in the lawsuits but said there is another side to the story that will come out in court.

“Rules and charges and fees, which virtually all landlords have in some fashion, exist to protect the property and the rights of other tenants from both careless and intentional acts and not as a means to profit,” Holland said in an email. “Enforcing those is in no way a ‘scare tactic.' Those rules and charges and fees are in writing and tenants should know those when they sign a lease, no matter whom the landlord.”

Greg Bal, supervising attorney for the University of Iowa's Student Legal Services, said tenant-landlord issues make up about half of the cases his office handles.

In his office's opinion, based on Iowa Code, landlords can't charge tenants for damage they didn't cause - like in the case involving the burglary and broken door.