STAFF EDIT: Keep Allston accountable

Traditionally, students aren’t the cleanest people. Take a look inside nearly any Allston apartment building in the ‘Boston University ghetto,’ and this fact is clear. Perhaps the leave-it-on-the-floor attitude comes from the intrinsic transiency students feel as they complete their four years in Boston. But students’ messiness does not justify poor treatment from landlords.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Allston is home to many absentee landlords and unscrupulous renters. Many buildings are held to substandard expectations and are often in need of repair. But with landlords making the bare minimum renovations and cleanings in order to stay up to code, and with average rent increasing at rates higher than any other Boston neighborhood, students are already forced to choose living situations that foster begriming habits and resentment toward their proprietors.

Students will always be inclined to throw parties and make a mess of their apartments. But many renting agencies and private landowners already account for potential damages and messes via a cleaning fee and deposit upheld in their tenants’ contracts. Still, if there is a problem that needs fixing, many students are faced with apathetic landlords who cite partying as the cause, and do nothing about it. This is akin to BU Dining Services’ charging students preemptively for potentially stolen silverware and then not serving food when forks and knives go missing. Just as this will never happen in BU dining halls, landlords must uphold their contractual obligations to their tenants.

Furthermore, Allston landlords must realize that some students aren’t satisfied with unkempt conditions. In fact, there are examples of students working independently to clean up their surroundings. The two-year-old ‘Keep Allston Decent’ neighborhood cleanup campaign is proof of students’ commitment to their environment.

The city of Boston is responsible for disciplining with negligent landlords, but it is up to students to be active and report their cases. The city should make it easy to do, and street advertisements of contact information for advocacy groups would go a long way to holding irresponsible landowners accountable. Perhaps even a campaign to publicy expose the worst landlords could be a good way to make others more liable for their tenants’ living conditions.

It is wrong of landlords to neglect their properties in Allston just because the neighborhood as a whole is in need of repair. At the same time, it is also up to students to overcome their oft-slummy surroundings and work to make their neighborhood better. Besides working in neighborhood groups like Keep Allston Decent, students should read their renting contracts, and hold their landlords to their legal obligations. A more accountable Allston will undoubtedly be a cleaner, safer place to live.