The Isla Vista Rental Property Owners Association filed a lawsuit in June against Santa Barbara County, arguing that the Isla Vista Rental Inspection Pilot Program is a violation of tenants’ rights. Community members have had mixed reactions to the program, with some seeing its long-term benefits and others arguing it is an invasion of privacy.
The property owners association is arguing that the program forces owners to violate tenants’ rights by allowing inspectors inside units, without the tenant being able to object. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Santa Barbara County (SBC) initiated the rental inspection program in order to improve the housing conditions of properties in Isla Vista from problems such as mold or unsafe balconies. UC Santa Barbara is funding the program through a settlement between the University and SBC, which stated that the University failed to construct enough housing for the growing student population.
Once inspections began in early August, the property owners association requested a preliminary injunction to enforce an emergency stop of the program, which a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge denied.
According to the civil complaint, the property owners association is arguing that the program forces owners to violate tenants’ rights by allowing inspectors inside units, without the tenant being able to object.
“The Ordinance would require the landlord to violate a tenant’s Fourth Amendment Rights by requiring the owner to facilitate entry into a unit for the purpose of an inspection when a tenant is not at home to object to the inspection,” the civil complaint read.
SBC believes that the property owners association lawsuit is a “misinterpretation” of the program, stating that the inspections can’t continue unless they receive consent from the tenants, according to the county’s opposition.
“There is no language in the Ordinance that requires entry and inspection without the inspector obtaining the tenant’s consent,” the opposition read.
With 13,000 of the 20,000 residents of I.V. being students, they will likely be the most affected by this program. The Nexus sent out a poll via Instagram on Aug. 15 to survey residents’ reactions to the program. The majority of responses indicated that they believe the program will be effective, with almost all responses saying that their I.V. apartments were not up to general safety and quality standards.
The majority of responses indicate that students believe the program will be effective, with 1 meaning the program won’t be effective and 5 meaning the program will be very effective. Daily Nexus
Isabelle Prittie, a second-year sociology and communication double major and I.V. resident, believes that landlords are against the program because “they don’t want to meet liveable standards from their tenants.” She also claimed that an op-ed released by Santa Barbara Independent was written by two landlords in protest of the program.
“The op-ed in the Independent about how the program is an infringement on tenants’ rights was written by two landlords! They wouldn’t be [suing] if they didn’t have anything to hide!” Pritte responded.
UCSB alum and former I.V. resident Aliya Glick responded that living in the University-owned San Joaquin Villages apartments made her “really disappointed” in how I.V. rentals manage their properties.
“When I toured my property, I saw mold in the corner of the shower walls. When I moved in a few months later, I could clearly tell they just painted over the mold! And there was so much trash all over my yard before moving in,” Glick said. “There needs to be better oversight of [these] property owner[s] taking advantage of students.”’
Jessica, whose last name is omitted as to not affect her current job, is a former I.V. resident who lived in an apartment for three years while attending UCSB. Throughout her time, she consistently dealt with black mold, frequent sewage and shower drain clogs, insect infestations, which she said their landlord dismissed, and ineffective heating during the winter.
“The heater wouldn’t really help us much. We would wake up and basically see our breath in the air,” she said.
While Jessica believes the program will open the county’s eyes to the living conditions of I.V., she expressed fear that the county will deem certain properties unlivable, forcing tenants to lose their housing.
“That’s probably going to decrease the amount of housing available to students, and people who live in Isla Vista overall,” Jessica said. “[Landlords] know they’re students. They know that these are students who can’t afford a place by themselves in Santa Barbara. These are people just trying to get an education, so [landlords] know that eventually there’s going to be someone who’s going to take a free spot, no matter how cold or how moldy it is.”
Alex Esparza, a third-year economics major, discussed in an interview with the Nexus that he sees both the pros and cons of the program. Esparza lives in a two-bedroom apartment with three other housemates on the 67 block of I.V., and believes his apartment is an “outlier” considering how well-maintained the apartment is. He pays $800 a month in rent, but said finding affordable housing wasn’t easy.
“I didn’t qualify for student housing anymore, and all the affordable housing was taken,” Esparza said. “It was just so stressful … and a lot of the houses that were up for sale were super expensive, like in the thousands of dollars.”
While Esparza has expressed concerns over the potential obtrusion of tenants’ privacy, he believes the inspection program will have a net positive impact.
“I wouldn’t feel like I’m being invaded on because it’s really just about [whether] there’s a giant hole in your wall that they haven’t fixed, [and] they need to fix it,” Esparza said.
Esparza believes that if there’s a safety concern within the unit that wasn’t caused by the tenant, it should be the landlord’s responsibility to fix that issue.
“If I’m paying $1,300 for a bed in a triple, I would expect for [landlords] to come and maintain where I’m living. If there’s a crack in the pipe in the kitchen and it’s leaking everywhere, those $1,300 that I’m putting toward living there should already be enough to cover that. And if you’re going to charge me more just to have someone come and look like that’s completely unfair,” Esparza said.
Esparza also believes that UCSB should be doing more to ensure that students have affordable housing. He said that students may struggle to pay tuition or keep up with their academics if they are struggling to keep up with expensive housing prices.
“If the school knows that students are struggling with affordable housing because all these rental companies are coming in and buying all the houses and renting them for like thousands of dollars a [bed] … that’s a really big situation for your students,” Esparza said.
