The April 10-11, 2007 two-part article Landlord Lockdown could have been very useful to UW students considering off-campus housing. Unfortunately, it was filled with misleading statements and opinions from students who were obviously ill-prepared for the responsibilities of renting a house. I have lived in 3 rental homes in the area north of 45th Street, all owned by different people, and Bill Budigan is easily the best landlord I have had (our group of renters is so impressed that we decided, for the first time, to renew our lease for another year - something we didn't even consider for our previous landlords). The article singled him out and characterized him very poorly, while the true "slumlords" remain unnamed.

The students quoted in the article cite problems such as nonfunctional smoke detectors, small rooms, dirty dishes making the kitchen unusable, and even crackheads moving in randomly. For any problems with the house (plumbing issues, smoke detectors, etc.) all they had to do was call Mr. Budigan and have him send someone to fix them. Any issues we have had with our house were taken care of promptly and free of charge. The complaint about the small room for $400 is strange, because I seem to remember the dorms being much smaller than anything I have seen in Mr. Budigan's houses, and $400 rent is still cheaper than the dorms. Dirty dishes? It sounds like the student in question and her housemates were too lazy to wash them and let a bunch of food clog their sink. Also, if a crackhead walked into my house and started sleeping in an empty room I would call the police, not blame it on my landlord.

The article also says that Mr. Budigan's houses are crowded and have big parties that often attract police attention. Our lease specifically says no large parties; I fail to see how Mr. Budigan can be blamed for his tenants violating those terms, not to mention the fact that he is the only landlord I know of that has an autumn community meeting (which is required for all his tenants) where students, community members, and representatives from the city meet and discuss any issues they have. There are numerous other inaccuracies and incomplete details in the article, but my point is that reporters need to do a better job researching articles if they want to inform the UW community.

— Aaron Reding

Junior, Philosophy