Black mold. Gas leaks. Termites. Students report problems in Mosaic off-campus housing

A previous version of this article contained inaccuracies. Mosaic used $3,200 from Jack Agarwal’s security deposit to repaint his house, not $5,000 as originally reported. Additionally, Mosaic treated Jenna’s house for termites on Dec. 29, 2018; the original article reported that the termite problem was unresolved. The Daily Trojan regrets the errors.

This article was updated on May 17 after an additional interview with Mosaic to provide clarification and context. Statements added in after publication have been noted in the updated version.

After coming back to USC in Fall 2017 from studying abroad, senior Jack Agarwal was happy to move into an apartment on Menlo Avenue.

Agarwal and seven other students rented the property from Mosaic Student Communities, knowing that competition for housing near campus was fierce.

But by the end of the year, Agarwal, who graduated in Spring 2018 from the Marshall School of Business, was certain he would never rent from the company again.

Among numerous maintenance problems Agarwal described in an interview with the Daily Trojan, the property’s gate allegedly remained broken for two months. In that time, Agarwal’s bike was stolen, and he and his roommates could not access their car.

At the end of the year, Agarwal said Mosaic removed about $3,200 from the security deposits to the repaint the entire house. Agarwal notified Mosaic he was willing to take the company to court, but he backed down after feeling like he didn’t have a strong enough case.

Agarwal’s experience is not uncommon. Mosaic Student Communities, a property management company that markets primarily toward USC students, manages over 50 properties in the USC area.

“We care a lot about our reputation,” said George Alva, the co-owner and co-founder of Mosaic. “We care a lot about our product. We’re continuing to grow and the property management business is a challenging business.”

But a Daily Trojan investigation found that Mosaic has received numerous complaints from student residents, some of which have escalated into lawsuits. Lack of communication, failure to meet state building codes and standards and a perceived shortage of staff members have caused problem after problem for Mosaic tenants, many of whom don’t know where else to turn.

In conducting its investigation, the Daily Trojan reviewed court documents, looked over property, inspection and building records and interviewed two dozen students who have lived in Mosaic properties.

Over a dozen students said Mosaic kept their security deposits to repair damages — when instead they were used for routine maintenance projects that should have been taken on by the company itself. One student was charged $400 for a paint job.

At the same time, students said they experienced long delays in maintenance orders and repair requests. After finding black mold on their property, four students waited weeks before Mosaic addressed the issue. One student waited nearly a month before Mosaic fumigated her termite-infested house. Two students have yet to hear back from Mosaic about cockroach problems. Another student is waiting for Mosaic to address a growing moth problem.

One student had to pay out-of-pocket for her scratched car, after Mosaic said it could not be held liable for the loose roof tile that caused the damages. Courtney Jurasko, Mosaic’s senior property manager, said in an email that it was an “act of God.”

The company says it doesn’t own all of the properties it manages, making handling student complaints difficult at times. It added that it only keeps security deposits for repair purposes.

But these problems, while specific to Mosaic, represent a larger issue in an area where tight competition for housing has led to skyrocketing rents. USC guarantees student housing for incoming freshmen for a maximum of two years, and students who can’t find on-campus housing are left to settle for whatever is available in the surrounding neighborhood, often signing leases half a year in advance. But many feel that housing companies take advantage of this desperation.

“I think it’s just a repeating trend that us students are generally seen as powerless or we don’t have a lot of ability to push back against the policies or the actions of these big housing corporations,” said Sam Maracich, a senior majoring in electrical engineering who has rented from Mosaic for two years.

Slow responses

According to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, landlords must maintain their property and keep up with basic repairs to ensure the habitability of their residences.

But within months of moving into a Mosaic property in August, Jenna, a junior majoring in business administration and real estate finance, said she found a termite infestation that went unsolved for over a month.

“I started seeing these little grounds on the floor,” said Jenna, who asked that her last name be withheld out for fear of reprisal from Mosaic. “I called a termite inspector, and they said the house should be tented. Mosaic hasn’t done anything about that.”

Mosaic provided documentation showing that the house was treated for termites on Dec. 29, and that its own agency said no tenting was needed for the level of termites present.

Jenna reported the termites on Nov. 20 and found mold in her apartment on Dec. 11. After calling a mold inspection agency, she was told that the mold was likely due to the property’s age and poor maintenance.

According to California landlord-tenant laws, landlords must provide a written disclosure about mold hazards when they know, or have reason to know, that the mold poses a threat to the tenants’ health.

Alva said Mosaic took allegations of mold very seriously, but said in a post-publication interview that Jenna never provided proof of mold to the company.

“[Toxic mold] can lead to serious lung infections, and often results from landlords’ neglect of pipes leaking the walls, leaky roofs and unsealed walls [that lack a protective coating],” according to California Tenant Law, a website operated by the Carlson Law Office.

When Jenna reported the issue to Jurasko, the senior property manager, she said Mosaic would address the issue immediately.

“Nothing ever happened after that phone call even though I texted, emailed, called. Nothing,” Jenna said.

Justice Schiappa, a member of cinema fraternity Delta Kappa Alpha whose house is owned by Mosaic, said Mosaic has failed to address a faulty window for two years and to provide a proper lock for the front door.

“I’ve come up to that door and it’s just been unlocked from the outside … homeless people [have] walked in,” said Schiappa, a sophomore majoring in screenwriting.

According to the California Civil Code, landlords must meet certain conditions of safety and habitability. This includes installing proper security measures and lock systems to prevent criminal activity.

“I’m trying like hell to move out because I don’t feel safe living in a Mosaic-owned property,” Schiappa said.

Mosaic said in a post-publication interview that the front door lock can be difficult to use, but added that the historical nature of the house makes it difficult to install a new doorknob with a modern locking mechanism. The company also said that it encourages residents to avoid the front door and use two other entrances that have stronger locks.

Montana Kanen, a senior majoring in economics, said her broken dishwasher flooded her house, leading to a cockroach infestation. But she also lived with a broken heater for a month even though, according to California law, landlords must provide “functioning plumbing, heating and electrical facilities.”

Mosaic said in a post-publication interview that the company sent someone to fix Kanen’s heater twice, both times within 24 hours of an online report being filed — though Kanen maintains that she told the company of her broken heater by phone and did not hear back for a month. Additionally, Mosaic said a third-party inspection report from a pest control vendor cited “no pest activity” in Kanen’s unit. When Mosaic’s maintenance team eventually came to fix the issue, it set off the smoke detectors, which the company then removed.

According to Kanen, Mosaic did not install new smoke detectors for a month, despite a California code that requires buildings have smoke detectors at all times. The company re-installed them after the day after Kanen experienced a gas leak.

“My boyfriend walks in and he’s like, ‘Holy shit, it reeks of gas,’” Kanen said. “I call Mosaic — again, really hard to get through. They told me [to] call the gas company [because] it’s not their problem.”

Mosaic said the company resolved the gas leak within two hours of receiving the call.

Petitioning for change

After living in a Mosaic-owned property during her senior year, USC alumna and former Daily Trojan editor Erika Lee was charged $605 from her security deposit for extra cleaning services and damage done to her room.

Lee, who said she hired a professional cleaner before she moved out and made sure that nothing in the room was broken, started an online petition after she graduated in Spring 2018. The petition said Mosaic repeatedly charged students for supposed damages and normal “wear and tear,” amassing over 70 signatures.

Alva said that for properties that are managed but not owned by Mosaic, the owners of the properties have the final say in issues regarding security deposits.

“At the end of the day, the owner needs to approve [the tenant concessions],” Alva said. “If he doesn’t improve it or she doesn’t improve it or they have issues or there’s pushback, that puts us in a difficult position because we need to deliver that message to the students.”

A month after the petition began, Mosaic responded, saying it wanted to process the charges “accurately and fairly.” Lee later announced on the petition that she received her full security deposit and has since marked the petition as resolved.

Jason Hwang, who graduated last year and commented on the petition, said he was able to ignore some of Mosaic’s issues — such as how it never addressed repairs like broken bathtubs and sinks — until the company took around 53% of his and his roommates’ over $3,000 deposit.

Hwang said he felt the company’s charges were unclear and that Mosaic failed to address problems he noticed before he moved in as well as repairs he asked for during his stay.

“[Mosaic] didn’t seem to patch up the whole place perfectly when we moved in and now that we’re moving out, suddenly [they’re] making us pay for damages that really even aren’t our fault? No one came to do a full inspection during our two years staying there,” Hwang said.

After negotiating for three months, the company eventually gave Hwang 80% of his deposit back.

In an email to the Daily Trojan, Mosaic stated that “neither Mosaic nor its clients keep or make money from security deposits.”

Legal action

Some students who’ve lived in Mosaic-owned properties have turned to the legal system to address their grievances.

Since 2013, Mosaic Student Communities has been named as a defendant in four lawsuits in California Superior Court, two of which were filed in October.

Sammi Ali, the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Mosaic, lived in a Mosaic property twice before suing the company Oct. 3. Ali, a graduate student studying molecular biology, lived on a property that Mosaic recently acquired. Within a month following the change in management, Ali found that Mosaic had thrown out many of his belongings, including furniture and antiques that were placed outside under a tarp.

According to Ali, none of his roommates were asked or notified by Mosaic about the removal of the belongings prior to the event.

“I explained to them, in any scenario they tried to argue, I [said] either way, you needed to give notice,” Ali said. “The fact that you just started managing the property, you’re only one month in, you should already know better than to start doing whatever you want.”

After Ali sued Mosaic Student Communities in a small claims court, Mosaic was ordered to pay $6,000 for damages.

Fatimata Sanogo, a graduate student studying epidemiology, also filed a lawsuit against Mosaic in October after her security deposit was withheld.

According to UC San Diego’s guide to landlord-tenant law, tenants can have a claim against property owners if a landlord “withholds all or some of a security deposit for damages that do not exceed normal wear and tear.”

Sanogo alleged that Mosaic overcharged her and her roommate for regular wear and tear on the apartment during her stay even though she left the property in pristine condition.

Mosaic settled the case in December for around $400 each for both her and her roommate.

When asked about the legal action, Mosaic said it was against the company’s policy to comment on previous or ongoing lawsuits.

A competitive market

Mosaic told the Daily Trojan that it has close to 15 employees and that the company has a high turnover rate. Mosaic said they had over 500 residents in 2014 and have been steadily growing since. Many students found that Jurasko was the only Mosaic staffer they interacted with, leading them to feel like the company did not have enough full-time employees to meet the needs of its tenants.

“I think the employees are overburdened. I think they’re understaffed,” Maracich said. “Courtney is managing far too many properties than she’s able to.”

But issues surrounding student housing companies aren’t exclusive to the USC community. In 2013, USA Today published a story about Pennsylvania State University and West Virginia University students who did not get their security deposits back. The story quoted Gregory Nichols, a civil law attorney at Tulane University, who said some landlords target students because they don’t know how to fight back.

“In a lot of cases, students have moved away, so they are not even in town — or in state — to take a landlord to court, leaving them scot-free,” Nichols told USA Today.

Some universities have taken steps to help students find equitable off-campus housing. New York University has a list of vetted and safe student housing corporations on its website. UC Berkeley has a list of tips on how to approach security deposits and ensure students are not overcharged.

In Los Angeles, where the housing market is often complex and stressful, the University has not yet provided new tenants with guidance and resources to navigate the multitude of housing companies available. USC did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding its responsibility to provide students with help finding off-campus housing.

“At the end of the day, tenants pay the rent, they pay the mortgage, they pay all the bills,” said Mosaic co-owner Carlos Delherra. “That’s something we try to remind our employees about all the time. We see our tenants and our residents truly as business partners.”