In four years at Kansas University, Arsen Kharatyan has had four landlords. He ended up in court with the last one.

“If you let something like this go,” Kharatyan said, “they’re going to stiff the next person and the person after that.”

In Kharatyan’s case, “this” was a security deposit that was not refunded when the KU senior and his roommates moved out of an apartment owned by Rogers Properties.

But the manager for Rogers Properties, Robert Serling, said Kharatyan and his roommates didn’t leave their apartment in pristine condition; it had large stains and gouges in the walls.

Serling said his company believed it had a “gentleman’s agreement” with the roommates on the deposit.

“What it came down to in court was that the actual paperwork was never issued on the reason they weren’t getting their deposit back,” Serling said. “It’s paperwork, dummy. You’ve got to have it in writing.”

A judge sided with the roommates, awarding them $801, which was the full deposit, plus a penalty fee and court fees.

And that’s not the only case out there. As the school year nears its end, observers say more than a few KU students and Lawrence landlords will find themselves disputing deposits. It’s just one more flashpoint in a year-round tug-of-war .

Top priority

Kansas University senior Arsen Kharatyan won a legal battle with his previous landlord for withholding security deposit money without giving a written reason. Kharatyan was pictured on Wednesday at his new apartment on Kentucky Street.

Jo Hardesty, director of KU Legal Services, said landlord-tenant issues were the majority of the department’s cases.

“It’s the No. 1 thing we do,” she said. “Somewhere around 85 percent live off campus, and of the students who live off-campus, almost all of them rent. … That’s why we have those problems in the landlord-tenant area.”

Hardesty said the two main problems her office dealt with were the return of security deposits and repairs that went undone.

“During the school year we’ll have students come in, the classic cases of bugs and mice,” she said. “Some of those older homes might have issues with furnace and water heater, gas, electrical. Things like that some of the newer homes won’t see.”

Hardesty’s department offers to review leases for KU student tenants and also gives advice for handling negotiations and walk-throughs. She hopes the service will prevent problems before they happen.

“The students seem to be doing that a little bit more,” she said. “We advocate for the tenants’ rights. There is nobody else out there who does.”

But sometimes the disputes end up in court.

6News video: Tenants have legal options for deposit returns

Gwen Wellnitz’s son, Scott, won a $1,221 judgment last year in Douglas County small claims court against First Management Inc. Gwen Wellnitz said the company failed to return her son’s deposit after he graduated from KU.

A few shysters

Wellnitz said she thought most students didn’t know their rights when dealing with landlords.

“The landlords, they don’t have to treat them right. They have kids moving in all the time,” she said. “My guess is that more people let it go than go after them.”

First Management officials declined to comment on the case.

Sterling said he believed Lawrence landlords occasionally did take advantage of students, but he said that’s not what happened in his case with Kharatyan.

“I think there’s a few shysters out there,” Serling said, “but I think by and large the majority of them want to be straight up.”