Dorm Housing Agreement

[Draynen]

I am currently attending college in Washington, and when I moved into the dorms, I had to sign a housing agreement. Now, at the end of the year, somewhere around $10,000 in damages have been caused by a few students roughousing in the halls and placing large dents and cracks in them. Because no-one will confess, they are now going to fine the entire dorm of 75 people around $130-200 to pay for the damages. The claus in the contract that they are justifying this with goes as such:

"Resident students may also be held corporatly responcible for damages and losses which occur in the lounges, hallways, and other common areas of their residence facility. Minimal charges will be taken out of the student's damage deposit" ($75).

This seems fairly airtight for them to me, but as I a)did not participate in any way with the damage to the halls and b)have no idea who did I would prefer not to have to pay.

The other large problem with this is that if the students who did this confess, they will be required to bear the full brunt of the charges for the repair, meaning that they have no incentive to come forward, for if they do, instead of being fined a few hundred dollars, they will instead be fined several thousand.

Another note: The contract is signed by me, but there is another sig. line for the Housing official, which is NOT signed. Could this invalidate the contract in any way?

Thankyou
-Tom
[email protected]

 

[loku]

Damage to dormitory

If they did not sign the contract, then there is no contract. However, since you do live in the dorm, you might be legally obligated to follow the dorm rules, one of which is the corporate liability of students for damages. I don’t think this is a cut and dry matter, and it would be difficult to determine who would win if this were brought to court. Nevertheless, you might find it easier and less problem in the future to pay the money.