Dear Amy Korst:

I am writing to you about the article "LANDLORD LOCKDOWN: Landlord-tenant tensions" written by Arla Shephard in the April 10, 2007 issue of "The Daily." I am disappointed to see many false and defamatory statements, all of which could have been determined to be false had she ever contacted me and asked me about the alleged quotations from the fictitiously named source.

Regarding the caption under the accompanying picture, we only have eight tenants at this single family home.

The fictitious "Patrick Hayes" claims to have been a tenant of mine, but I do not own any houses with an attic bedroom, and I have no houses with any stairs to an attic room,nor do I have any houses where only four out of ten people signed the lease. All tenants at my houses are required to sign a lease.

We have professionally paid people to do our yards in the growing seasons. All of our smoke detectors are checked frequently:state and city law makes tenants responsible for maintaining working smoke detectors and I believe my tenants do a good job of this. We have never had a fire with a malfunctioning smoke alarm.

I have no idea why Patrick Hayes would allegedly allow a bad tenant to move in with him, but I am glad that Patrick says the person left. We believe that the actual tenants I rent to are responsible, good students and attempt to be good neighbors. While Patrick contends that several of his co-tenants did not pay rent, most of my tenants are responsible rent payers.

Regarding the unconfirmed quotations from Clay Chase, I have never heard of this person before, we have never talked and he is not in the phone directory; therefore, I do not know which of my houses he lives near. I have had contact with University Park Community Club (UPCC) leaders for many years. The implication that I have released a list of student addresses and phone numbers to UPCC members in response to the heightened University District violence is completely false. I have been giving them this list for years, and I do not believe that the University Park area has had a rise in violence. I have not noted an increase in any types of complaints regarding my houses in the last several years, but instead a decrease. My tenants of the last several years will verify this. On the whole, they are responsible, excellent students, and good neighbors. I have always been in good communication with community leaders, the city attorney and police. Every October, we have a meeting with all of my tenants, all of the neighbors, the police and the liquor control board, and we find this process very helpful in preventing problems.

Regarding Part 2 of the series, in the April 11, 2007 issue of "The Daily," the fictitious Allison Thomas is certainly not one of my tenants, because I have no houses with more than 11 bedrooms. All of my houses have been inspected by the cities DPD and are conforming, legally-allowed zoning uses and have been so for many years. Our tenants are bound by the UW Student Conduct Code in all of our leases for fall 2007, and we always cooperate with the University and neighborhood groups to make the North Campus Area a good neighborhood. Please print this as a correction to the false and defamatory quotations and misleading interpretations.

— Bill Budigan