Students take action against Lexington landlord

 

 

As the city continues to focus in on fire codes and zoning regulations of houses in student neighborhoods, some UK students are finding new issues concerning their renting rights.

Keegan Bakus, a biology senior, is taking legal action against his former landlord for failure to return a security deposit, a problem he believes is more common among college students than the general population.

Bakus lived in a house on State Street for two years under the landlord Mike Haley. Bakus said he and his roommates saw the house before signing the lease and everything seemed fine. But two days before they were to move in, they were let in to the house to plan for furniture arrangements and found the house in a surprising state.

“In my bedroom, someone knocked a hole in the wall and you could see where they tried to patch it up. Someone had painted (a gay slur) on the wall, my roommate had a chunk of his door missing,” he said. “It looked like hell.”

Bakus’ father, Ron Bakus, an attorney practicing out of Louisville, is representing the students in the lawsuit. Ron Bakus said his concern lies in whether or not this is an under-reported problem in college towns.

“As a matter of public interest I am concerned about what is happening in Lexington,” he said. “Are students doing damage or are landlords keeping deposits and taking advantage?”

Ron Bakus said students should know there is a Kentucky statutory requirement to handle leases a certain way when dealing with security deposits.

“There is a required damage listing before moving in for the protection of both parties and upon termination or completion of a lease you are required to have another walkthrough,” he said. “If that’s not done it is a matter of Kentucky law that says you have to refund the money.”

Keegan Bakus said Haley told the boys they would receive some of their deposit but he was deducting money for broken blinds. They have yet to receive any of their $1,500 deposit back.

The students claim Haley did not complete either walkthrough of the house and he should return their deposit in full, and they feel they also should be refunded for pro-rated rent. Because of the damage they initially found in the house, the students did not move in for the first few days of their lease and were told they had to be out of the house two days before their lease was up.

Keegan Bakus said he is worried that students in Lexington are getting taken advantage of because many of them do not know their rights or cannot afford to take action.

“A lot of landlords know it’s expensive to hire a lawyer and students can’t afford it,” he said. “So these guys can take your security deposit and you can’t do anything about it. I feel like it happens to a lot of people.”

Haley did not respond to phone calls by publication deadline. Ron Bakus said he sent Haley a certified letter demanding a refund of the deposit and he received no response.

Ron Bakus said he believes some landlords in Lexington obey the Kentucky statute, but students are at a disadvantage to take any legal action if a landlord does not.

“I think there are a lot of good landlords out there, but human nature would tell you that anybody who is aware that students can’t afford a lawyer … it makes sense (landlords) would keep the deposit,” he said. “On the other hand, landlords are going to say ‘these are college students, there is damage.’ The court will decide who is right.”