Another Iowa City Landlord Agrees To Settle Class Action Lawsuit Alleging It Slipped In Illegal Contract Terms Into Its Residential Leases With Tenants

In Johnson County, Iowa, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reports:

• The Iowa City Tenants' Project has again reached a settlement in a landlord and tenant class action lawsuit.
  
  A Johnson County District Court judge [] approved the settlement, filed jointly by [Iowa] Tenants' Project attorney Chris Warnock and attorneys representing landlord Tracy Barkalow and his property ownership and management companies.
  
  In a two-page ruling, Judge Ian Thornhill wrote that the settlement agreement would be accepted and plaintiffs named in the case would receive security deposit refunds within 30 days of the ruling.
  
  ***
  Per the settlement, all members of the class — those who rented from TSB Holdings and Big Ten Property Management during lease years 2010-11 and 2011-12 — are eligible to receive $65, or up to $130 if they were tenants both years.
  
  The original case challenged illegal provisions included in leases for Barkalow's property management companies.
  
  In March 2014, Judge Douglas Russell granted the Tenants' Project class action certification and ruled that several provisions in the leases, including one that imposed an automatic fee for carpet cleaning when a tenant moved out, were illegal.
  
  Other illegal provisions included fees, fines, penalties and charges that go beyond actual, proven damages, and provisions that removed the landlord’s liability in a number of areas, including for injuries and loss of property related to theft, fire or other circumstances.
  
  ***
  Warnock said via email that tenants who rented from 2010 to 2012 can find more information and register to collect repayment at the Iowa Tenants' Project website. The deadline to register is Dec. 15, according to the Tenant's Project website.
  
  Wednesday's ruling comes less than a month after the Tenants' Project reached a settlement with Iowa City's largest property management company, Apartments Downtown.(1) That settlement established a complaint process in which Apartments Downtown will pay to retain attorneys from the Iowa Tenants' Project to represent its tenants over the next three lease years.

For more, see Settlement reached in landlord-tenant class action suit.

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(1) See Landlord Agrees To Cough Up Nearly $1 Million To Settle Class Action Suit Alleging It Squeezed About 14,000 Tenants With Bogus Charges By Loading Leases With Illegal Terms.