Spring Break
Office of Legal Advising available free to students
From landlords to car accidents, ASOSU Office of Legal Advising serves as resource for students
Morgan Plummer
Issue date: 10/24/08 Section: News
Dealing with unfair landlords seems like a typical problem college students face, but thanks to the Legal Advising Office available at OSU, it is one that can be solved.
The ASOSU Office of Legal Advising is supported by student fees and is free to students.
The office has a legal team of two attorneys: Audrey Bach and Kara Daley. Bach deals with landlord/tenant issues, as well as consumer problems and accidents. However, she primarily deals with landlord/tenant issues.
"I am very impassioned about this subject because we're talking about where people live, people's homes. We're talking about a client's overall well-being," Bach said.
Daley handles cases in criminal matters such as traffic infractions, misdemeanors and family law matters such as dissolution of marriages, name changes and wills.
Bach said there are usually two main problems when it comes to handling landlord/tenant issues.
The first issue is that the landlord is not keeping up on the house when the habitability of the environment is in question. Local laws concerning this issue are very vague and in somewhat of a gray area. The words used to describe the landlords' responsibility leave a lot of things out and do not keep everyone safe. These laws can be found in the Oregon Revised Statutes in chapter 90 under the Residential Landlord Tenant Act.
The city of Corvallis decided to put in their own set of codes when dealing with landlord/tenant issues: the State Statute City Code. The State Statute City Code deals with the four main problems: structural integrity, plumbing, heating and weather-proofing issues.
The person in charge of the area is Bob Loewen, who works very closely with Bach on landlord/tenant cases. Loewen assists landlords as well as tenants; landlords pay an $8 annual fee for his help.
To see how the codes have helped since they were instated, one can take a look at the law from the ORS and then read how the City Code deals with the same problem.
The ASOSU Office of Legal Advising is supported by student fees and is free to students.
The office has a legal team of two attorneys: Audrey Bach and Kara Daley. Bach deals with landlord/tenant issues, as well as consumer problems and accidents. However, she primarily deals with landlord/tenant issues.
"I am very impassioned about this subject because we're talking about where people live, people's homes. We're talking about a client's overall well-being," Bach said.
Daley handles cases in criminal matters such as traffic infractions, misdemeanors and family law matters such as dissolution of marriages, name changes and wills.
Bach said there are usually two main problems when it comes to handling landlord/tenant issues.
The first issue is that the landlord is not keeping up on the house when the habitability of the environment is in question. Local laws concerning this issue are very vague and in somewhat of a gray area. The words used to describe the landlords' responsibility leave a lot of things out and do not keep everyone safe. These laws can be found in the Oregon Revised Statutes in chapter 90 under the Residential Landlord Tenant Act.
The city of Corvallis decided to put in their own set of codes when dealing with landlord/tenant issues: the State Statute City Code. The State Statute City Code deals with the four main problems: structural integrity, plumbing, heating and weather-proofing issues.
The person in charge of the area is Bob Loewen, who works very closely with Bach on landlord/tenant cases. Loewen assists landlords as well as tenants; landlords pay an $8 annual fee for his help.
To see how the codes have helped since they were instated, one can take a look at the law from the ORS and then read how the City Code deals with the same problem.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.