It's an annual tradition around Boston this time of year: move-in day, where thousands of college students — and many moving trucks not far behind — return to the city and unpack into new apartments. This year, city officials have worked to make sure more of those apartments are up to code and not overcrowded. I was in Allston Monday for move-in day — where it's famously known as "Allston Christmas."
What Boston University junior Pratik Singh and his five roommates found Monday was not the living conditions they expected to be paying $4,800 a month for this school year.
"There’s just holes in the wall, there’s molded fungus everywhere," Singh said. "There’s just trash all over pretty much everything. They didn’t clean up anything."
Singh says when they first looked at their six-bedroom home at 24 Highgate St. in Allston, it appeared in good shape with its previous tenants. But by move-in day, there were more questions than answers — and no response from the house’s landlord.
"I drove 10 hours from D.C. yesterday to come in to campus just to — I thought it’d be a quiet move-in," he said. "I thought everything would be going normal. I walked here and there was a press conference set up."
It was in front of Singh’s house that Boston mayor Marty Walsh and city officials gathered to highlight their weekend crackdown on problem properties. Officials from several city departments hit the streets of student-heavy neighborhoods like Allston to conduct targeted housing and trash inspections. Walsh says this year’s efforts have been different from previous ones.
"We’re working closely with colleges now," Walsh said. "We can focus on addresses where we know that students are renting."
It was in June that more than 20 colleges and universities in Boston agreed to give the city the addresses of students living off campus. According to Walsh, this year’s move-in enforcement has yielded at least 120 housing violations and 1,100 code enforcement tickets being issued. But he says the city’s work is far from over.
"[Inspectional Services] staff are going to be going to orientations at your schools to educate students of their rights and responsibilities," he said. "Your landlords do not have the right to kick you out if you let us in your units.
Inside 24 Highgate, city inspector Julia Scott walked me through the house’s bathroom, where the shower door is missing and the walls are damaged from water.
"The toilet’s not secure to the floor," Scott said. "And then there’s a large hole around the pipe and there’s evidence of mice droppings around the corner."
Outside, the father of one of Singh’s roommates tells me the name of the property’s management company: Kunevich and Lau Realty — the same company that manages the building I live in just one mile away in Brighton. Kunevich and Lau declined to comment about 24 Highgate.
"I wouldn’t move into a house in Allston if my friends weren’t responsible and I wasn’t responsible," Singh said. "We’re responsible students. We don’t want whatever people have done in the past to reflect on us. We would take good care of this place if we got it in good shape, but we just haven’t gotten it in good shape at all."
For now the city is working with BU to help house Singh and his roommates while their place gets repaired. But Tuesday brings a new set of challenges for Singh: It’ll be his first day of school.
Last month, Boston City Councillor Josh Zakim and Small Property Owners Association Executive Director Skip Schloming discussed whether the city’s new crackdown on landlords is working on Greater Boston:
