Reviews Mosaic Student Communities Inc Usc Los Angeles
A previous version of this article independent inaccuracies. Mosaic used $3,200 from Jack Agarwal's security deposit to repaint his house, not $5,000 as originally reported. Additionally, Mosaic treated Jenna'south house for termites on December. 29, 2018; the original commodity reported that the termite problem was unresolved. The Daily Trojan regrets the errors.
This article was updated on May 17 afterwards an additional interview with Mosaic to provide clarification and context. Statements added in subsequently publication have been noted in the updated version.
Later coming back to USC in Fall 2017 from studying abroad, senior Jack Agarwal was happy to movement into an apartment on Menlo Artery.
Agarwal and seven other students rented the holding from Mosaic Pupil Communities, knowing that contest for housing near campus was fierce.
But by the cease of the twelvemonth, Agarwal, who graduated in Jump 2018 from the Marshall Schoolhouse of Concern, was sure he would never rent from the company once more.
Among numerous maintenance issues Agarwal described in an interview with the Daily Trojan, the property'southward gate allegedly remained cleaved for two months. In that fourth dimension, Agarwal's bike was stolen, and he and his roommates could not admission their automobile.
At the finish of the year, Agarwal said Mosaic removed about $iii,200 from the security deposits to the repaint the entire firm. Agarwal notified Mosaic he was willing to take the company to court, only he backed downwardly after feeling like he didn't accept a strong enough case.
Agarwal'south feel is not uncommon. Mosaic Educatee Communities, a property management company that markets primarily toward USC students, manages over 50 backdrop in the USC area.
"Nosotros intendance a lot about our reputation," said George Alva, the co-owner and co-founder of Mosaic. "Nosotros care a lot virtually our product. We're standing to grow and the property management business is a challenging business."
But a Daily Trojan investigation plant that Mosaic has received numerous complaints from student residents, some of which have escalated into lawsuits. Lack of communication, failure to meet state building codes and standards and a perceived shortage of staff members accept acquired trouble subsequently problem for Mosaic tenants, many of whom don't know where else to turn.
In conducting its investigation, the Daily Trojan reviewed court documents, looked over property, inspection and edifice records and interviewed two dozen students who accept lived in Mosaic properties.
Over a dozen students said Mosaic kept their security deposits to repair damages — when instead they were used for routine maintenance projects that should accept been taken on by the company itself. One student was charged $400 for a paint job.
At the same fourth dimension, students said they experienced long delays in maintenance orders and repair requests. After finding black mold on their belongings, four students waited weeks earlier Mosaic addressed the consequence. One pupil waited virtually a month before Mosaic fumigated her termite-infested house. Ii students have still to hear dorsum from Mosaic about cockroach problems. Some other student is waiting for Mosaic to address a growing moth problem.
One pupil had to pay out-of-pocket for her scratched auto, afterwards Mosaic said information technology could not be held liable for the loose roof tile that acquired the damages. Courtney Jurasko, Mosaic'due south senior property manager, said in an email that it was an "act of God."
The company says information technology doesn't own all of the properties it manages, making handling student complaints difficult at times. It added that it only keeps security deposits for repair purposes.
But these issues, while specific to Mosaic, represent a larger issue in an area where tight competition for housing has led to skyrocketing rents. USC guarantees student housing for incoming freshmen for a maximum of two years, and students who can't notice on-campus housing are left to settle for any is available in the surrounding neighborhood, ofttimes signing leases one-half a twelvemonth in advance. But many feel that housing companies take advantage of this agony.
"I think it's just a repeating tendency that us students are more often than not seen as powerless or we don't have a lot of ability to push button dorsum against the policies or the actions of these big housing corporations," said Sam Maracich, a senior majoring in electrical engineering who has rented from Mosaic for two years.
Ho-hum responses
Co-ordinate to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, landlords must maintain their property and keep upwards with bones repairs to ensure the habitability of their residences.
Just inside months of moving into a Mosaic property in August, Jenna, a junior majoring in business administration and existent manor finance, said she found a termite infestation that went unsolved for over a month.
"I started seeing these little grounds on the floor," said Jenna, who asked that her last name be withheld out for fear of reprisal from Mosaic. "I called a termite inspector, and they said the house should be tented. Mosaic hasn't done anything nigh that."
Mosaic provided documentation showing that the house was treated for termites on Dec. 29, and that its own bureau said no tenting was needed for the level of termites present.
Jenna reported the termites on November. 20 and institute mold in her apartment on December. 11. After calling a mold inspection agency, she was told that the mold was likely due to the property's historic period and poor maintenance.
According to California landlord-tenant laws, landlords must provide a written disclosure about mold hazards when they know, or have reason to know, that the mold poses a threat to the tenants' health.
Alva said Mosaic took allegations of mold very seriously, merely said in a mail-publication interview that Jenna never provided proof of mold to the company.
"[Toxic mold] can lead to serious lung infections, and ofttimes results from landlords' neglect of pipes leaking the walls, leaky roofs and unsealed walls [that lack a protective coating]," according to California Tenant Law, a website operated by the Carlson Law Function.
When Jenna reported the issue to Jurasko, the senior property manager, she said Mosaic would address the event immediately.
"Zip ever happened subsequently that phone call even though I texted, emailed, called. Nothing," Jenna said.
Justice Schiappa, a member of cinema fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha whose house is owned by Mosaic, said Mosaic has failed to address a faulty window for ii years and to provide a proper lock for the front end door.
"I've come upward to that door and it'south just been unlocked from the exterior … homeless people [take] walked in," said Schiappa, a sophomore majoring in screenwriting.
According to the California Civil Code, landlords must meet certain atmospheric condition of safety and habitability. This includes installing proper security measures and lock systems to prevent criminal action.
"I'grand trying similar hell to move out because I don't experience condom living in a Mosaic-owned property," Schiappa said.
Mosaic said in a post-publication interview that the front door lock tin can exist hard to use, merely added that the historical nature of the business firm makes it difficult to install a new doorknob with a modernistic locking mechanism. The company as well said that information technology encourages residents to avoid the forepart door and employ two other entrances that have stronger locks.
Montana Kanen, a senior majoring in economics, said her broken dishwasher flooded her house, leading to a cockroach infestation. But she likewise lived with a cleaved heater for a calendar month even though, according to California law, landlords must provide "operation plumbing, heating and electric facilities."
Mosaic said in a post-publication interview that the company sent someone to fix Kanen's heater twice, both times within 24 hours of an online report being filed — though Kanen maintains that she told the company of her cleaved heater past phone and did not hear back for a month. Additionally, Mosaic said a third-political party inspection report from a pest control vendor cited "no pest action" in Kanen'southward unit. When Mosaic'south maintenance squad somewhen came to fix the consequence, information technology fix off the fume detectors, which the company then removed.
According to Kanen, Mosaic did not install new smoke detectors for a month, despite a California code that requires buildings take smoke detectors at all times. The visitor re-installed them subsequently the day after Kanen experienced a gas leak.
"My boyfriend walks in and he's like, 'Holy shit, it reeks of gas,'" Kanen said. "I telephone call Mosaic — once more, actually hard to get through. They told me [to] phone call the gas company [considering] information technology's not their problem."
Mosaic said the company resolved the gas leak inside 2 hours of receiving the call.
Petitioning for change
After living in a Mosaic-endemic belongings during her senior year, USC alumna and former Daily Trojan editor Erika Lee was charged $605 from her security deposit for extra cleaning services and damage washed to her room.
Lee, who said she hired a professional person cleaner before she moved out and made sure that nothing in the room was broken, started an online petition afterward she graduated in Leap 2018. The petition said Mosaic repeatedly charged students for supposed damages and normal "wear and tear," amassing over 70 signatures.
Alva said that for properties that are managed just not owned by Mosaic, the owners of the properties have the final say in issues regarding security deposits.
"At the cease of the day, the owner needs to corroborate [the tenant concessions]," Alva said. "If he doesn't ameliorate it or she doesn't improve it or they have issues or at that place's pushback, that puts us in a difficult position because we need to deliver that message to the students."
A month after the petition began, Mosaic responded, saying it wanted to process the charges "accurately and fairly." Lee later appear on the petition that she received her full security deposit and has since marked the petition as resolved.
Jason Hwang, who graduated last year and commented on the petition, said he was able to ignore some of Mosaic's issues — such as how it never addressed repairs like cleaved bathtubs and sinks — until the visitor took around 53% of his and his roommates' over $3,000 deposit.
Hwang said he felt the company's charges were unclear and that Mosaic failed to address issues he noticed earlier he moved in equally well as repairs he asked for during his stay.
"[Mosaic] didn't seem to patch up the whole identify perfectly when nosotros moved in and now that we're moving out, of a sudden [they're] making usa pay for damages that really fifty-fifty aren't our fault? No ane came to do a total inspection during our two years staying in that location," Hwang said.
After negotiating for three months, the company somewhen gave Hwang fourscore% of his deposit dorsum.
In an email to the Daily Trojan, Mosaic stated that "neither Mosaic nor its clients keep or make coin from security deposits."
Legal activity
Some students who've lived in Mosaic-owned properties have turned to the legal organisation to address their grievances.
Since 2013, Mosaic Pupil Communities has been named as a defendant in 4 lawsuits in California Superior Court, two of which were filed in Oct.
Sammi Ali, the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Mosaic, lived in a Mosaic property twice before suing the company Oct. three. Ali, a graduate pupil studying molecular biological science, lived on a belongings that Mosaic recently caused. Inside a month following the change in management, Ali plant that Mosaic had thrown out many of his belongings, including article of furniture and antiques that were placed exterior under a tarp.
According to Ali, none of his roommates were asked or notified by Mosaic about the removal of the belongings prior to the consequence.
"I explained to them, in any scenario they tried to argue, I [said] either way, y'all needed to give notice," Ali said. "The fact that you only started managing the property, you lot're only one calendar month in, you should already know meliorate than to start doing whatever yous want."
Later on Ali sued Mosaic Educatee Communities in a small claims court, Mosaic was ordered to pay $6,000 for damages.
Fatimata Sanogo, a graduate pupil studying epidemiology, also filed a lawsuit against Mosaic in October after her security deposit was withheld.
According to UC San Diego'due south guide to landlord-tenant police force, tenants can have a claim against property owners if a landlord "withholds all or some of a security eolith for amercement that do not exceed normal wear and tear."
Sanogo alleged that Mosaic overcharged her and her roommate for regular habiliment and tear on the apartment during her stay even though she left the property in pristine condition.
Mosaic settled the case in Dec for effectually $400 each for both her and her roommate.
When asked well-nigh the legal action, Mosaic said it was against the company's policy to comment on previous or ongoing lawsuits.
A competitive market
Mosaic told the Daily Trojan that it has close to 15 employees and that the visitor has a high turnover charge per unit. Mosaic said they had over 500 residents in 2014 and have been steadily growing since. Many students constitute that Jurasko was the but Mosaic staffer they interacted with, leading them to feel like the company did not have enough total-fourth dimension employees to see the needs of its tenants.
"I retrieve the employees are overburdened. I think they're understaffed," Maracich said. "Courtney is managing far also many properties than she's able to."
But issues surrounding student housing companies aren't sectional to the USC community. In 2013, USA Today published a story about Pennsylvania Land Academy and West Virginia University students who did not get their security deposits dorsum. The story quoted Gregory Nichols, a civil law attorney at Tulane Academy, who said some landlords target students because they don't know how to fight back.
"In a lot of cases, students have moved away, and then they are non even in town — or in country — to accept a landlord to court, leaving them scot-free," Nichols told The states Today.
Some universities have taken steps to help students find equitable off-campus housing. New York University has a list of vetted and safe student housing corporations on its website. UC Berkeley has a list of tips on how to arroyo security deposits and ensure students are not overcharged.
In Los Angeles, where the housing market is often complex and stressful, the University has not yet provided new tenants with guidance and resources to navigate the multitude of housing companies available. USC did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding its responsibleness to provide students with help finding off-campus housing.
"At the terminate of the twenty-four hours, tenants pay the rent, they pay the mortgage, they pay all the bills," said Mosaic co-owner Carlos Delherra. "That's something we attempt to remind our employees about all the fourth dimension. We meet our tenants and our residents truly as business partners."
Source: https://dailytrojan.com/2019/04/21/black-mold-gas-leaks-termites-students-report-problems-in-mosaic-off-campus-housing/
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