About 40 percent of inquiries to University of Iowa’s Student Legal Services involve disputes between landlords and tenants, a reflection of the challenges that come with Iowa City’s large rental market.
There are more than 30,000 households in Iowa City, with 54 percent owned by landlords. Of the UI’s 33,000 students, 70 percent live off campus. This large number of rental properties has created ample opportunities for legal trouble over the years, with organizations aimed at addressing these issues growing as well.
Attorney Jim Kringlen from Iowa Legal Aid, an organization focused on helping tenants who are in disputes with their landlords, highlighted the large number of eviction cases coming out of Johnson County, however, oftentimes it is the poorest who feel these issues rather than college students.
“If you knew the demographics of low-income people, you would know our clients, especially in evictions,” Kringlen said. “People who are middle class or doing well financially, they don’t come to us for housing-related issues because they don’t have them.”
He said 2023 was a record year for eviction filings in Johnson County, reporting 884 cases. In 2024, that number dropped to 835. So far, 2025 has seen 173 eviction cases. Evictions are still up compared to pre-pandemic levels with 720 filings reported in 2019.
Iowa City Attorney Christopher Warnock has represented five clients in the Iowa Supreme Court regarding landlord tenant law, often taken on by some of the biggest landowners in Iowa City, including Apartment Downtown, which is owned by the Clark family.
Warnock said Iowa City is unique because of the high demand for student housing. The need for housing opens up possibilities for exploitations, and oftentimes the UI doesn’t do enough to ensure students are finding quality landlords.
“It’s like sheep unto the wolves,” Warnock said. “Once you’re a freshman, [the UI] are like, ‘Okay, we’re just going to let you go out and let the landlords do whatever they want to you.’ And that’s problematic because you’ve got a vulnerable population. I mean, they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.”
Warnock said some of the most common cases he sees are illegal provisions in leases, like carpet-cleaning costs, or other fees that are prohibted, while Kringlen noted landlords not maintaining the property is also a common issue.
Michael Conroy lived in an Apartments Downtown building in the early 2000s and was charged more than $400 for carpet- cleaning costs after he left. He decided he wasn’t going to pay the bill.
Conroy’s case led to a class action lawsuit, meaning it represented not just his situation but the collective grievances of about 14,000 tenants facing similar issues. The lawsuit ultimately challenged the landlords’ practices of charging for carpet cleaning, a cost that was unjustified under Iowa’s tenant protection laws.
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Conroy was satisfied with the outcome of the case and said ultimately it is problematic to villainize one side or the other, but he does think the large student population plays into a lot of legal challenges between landlords and tenants that are continuing today.
“A significant percentage of people who rent in college towns are here for the short term and have no real vested interest in the community in which they live and don’t plan to rent forever — certainly not rent in Iowa City forever. The tenants’ rights are not very strong, and so landlords can get away with a lot,” Conroy said.
For UI students, Amanda Elkins at Student Legal Service said the most common situation students will get in is not getting their deposit back, which is what they help represent.
“The major issues we’re seeing for students are security deposit returns, or lack thereof, maintenance issues, and lease reviews,” Elkins said.
Kringlen said the best way to help students is to document the apartment they are renting, so they have evidence if they need to get in a legal confrontation with their landlord. He also said doing research on possible renting locations is important when making the ultimate decision.
“If you’re paranoid, and I’m a little paranoid when I remind myself that this happens, it’s probably best to take a picture of everything,” Kringlen said.