Editor's Note: This is the final article in a series about local landlords who have escaped legal scrutiny of their questionable tactics.
With fresh revelations about Hanover's poor and sometimes illegal rental housing conditions, neither town officials, students who rent those properties nor the College which controls most of the local housing market can agree on what if any action to take against fraudulent landlords.
The problem boils down to one of legal responsibility. The College has no technical jurisdiction over private rental agreements. Hanover town officials, meanwhile, have no legal responsibility to enforce what are state tenants' rights laws.
If there is any agreement among these groups, it seems to be this: someone should step up, but it's not clear who.
Last week, a number of students' claims implicated J&R Properties Unlimited, owned by Jerry Rich of Manchester, and First Safe Co. and Avellino Enterprises, owned by Fred "Dr. Sal" Salvatoriello of Hanover, in various unfair and illegal rental actions which included withholding security deposits, over-charging for damages and violating state minimum rental standards laws.
Students, who deem themselves at a disadvantage in preventing landlord abuses, said they should not be expected to take legal recourses, looking to either the College or the town of Hanover to soften the off-campus housing conundrum.
Town and College authorities, meanwhile, pointed fingers at one another.
Many of the students who have rented from J&R and Salvatoriello believe the College has a moral imperative to insure that all students have adequate living conditions.
Even so, those same students disagreed on how Dartmouth should go about protecting tenants' rights. Some students recommended the College buy up the poor-quality apartments, while others felt the College should take some kind of legal action against fraudulent landlords.
Town officials attributed the poor quality housing to an extremely tight housing market, caused, they said, by inadequate dorm space which forces students off campus.
Dartmouth administrators denied that an on-campus housing crunch is responsible for unfair renting practices. They maintain that most student renters want to live off campus and added that it is not the College's responsibility to mediate landlord-tenant disputes.
Some students felt that their situation would be much improved if Dartmouth were to buy up off-campus properties as it did two years ago, when the College purchased 19 properties from the Hanover Investment Corporation.
"Everybody I know who lives off campus would be thrilled to have Dartmouth for a landlord," said Asa Tapley '02, who currently rents 30 Lebanon Street from Salvatoriello.
Mary Cipallone '02, a veteran renter of both J&R and Salvatoriello, said the College owning more off-campus properties would allow financial aid students a wider range of housing options, but said students would object if it meant Safety and Security walk-throughs like the ones the College requires for Greek parties.
But both Dartmouth and the town said they are unable to buy up apartments at will from landlords, even if they violate building codes.
Contrary to students' perceptions, in 1999 when the College bought properties from the Hanover Investment Corporation, the main concern was keeping the buildings from further deteriorating, which Dartmouth feared would mar downtown Hanover's aesthetics, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said.
Redman said that if the College were to buy more properties, it would strictly enforce town laws, including the three-person ordinance, which many students currently get away with violating.
Town officials faulted the College's foot-dragging on building new dorms for the high prices and poor quality of town rental housing.
Because students are willing to pay high rents and tolerate worse living conditions than other tenants, they are inadvertently driving up rental prices and driving down housing standards, Hanover Planning and Zoning Director Jonathan Edwards said.
Redman said that even if the College provided housing for all undergraduates, rent would remain so high that graduate students, not low income families, would take their place.
Redman said the laborious process of obtaining building and zoning permits for new dorms has contributed to the current housing crunch.
"If the town would like to hurry things up and finally grant up permits for the North Campus dorms that we have plans for, that would be great," Redman said.
While Edwards said he has never heard of permits preventing the College from building anything it "truly wanted to build," some Hanover residents have recently opposed the granting of permits for North Campus construction projects, citing their impact on nearby residents.
Other students recommended that either the College or the town take legal action against incompetent landlords or otherwise mediate between students and landlords.
Because tenants' rights laws are covered under state civil law, rather than town municipal law, Edwards said any intervention on the part of town officials would be "purely a kindness and an extra service." He said his office is under no legal obligation to monitor such cases.
Several students said they felt Dartmouth has both the financial and political clout to influence rental housing conditions.
"I think it's inappropriate that Dartmouth College claims that it can't take any action on these landlords," said Joel Schudson '02, who rents from J&R. "I think that morally, they have a responsibility to hire lawyers and they certainly have the ability to do it."
Administrators said it is not their responsibility to mediate private disputes between students and their landlords, especially since students will soon be out on their own, where they will face the same kinds of renting dilemmas.
"The reality is, students don't want us watching over then," Redman said. "They want to have the experience of renting from the worst landlord in town, of paying bills themselves."
