Loretta Park

Weber State University rarely has to evict students from its housing units.

But if it did, House Bill 343 will help, said Brett Perozzi, associate vice president of student affairs.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Paul Neuenschwander, R-Bountiful, was unanimously approved Wednesday by the House Business and Labor Committee. It now goes to the House floor.

The bill will allow state and private universities to handle evictions of students who violate their lease agreement or fail to make payment, rather than go through the legal process, Neuenschwander said. When a student does not pay their rent or fails to keep other agreements in their lease, the university can issue a three-day notice.

"This is for university-owned housing, not for university-approved housing," Neuenschwander said.

The leases for university-owned housing are generally short leases and by the time the university realizes a student cannot, or is unwilling to, pay their rent, 60 days have usually passed, he said.

When a university has to resort to the judicial process to evict a student, it can take six months or more, Neuenschwander said. The Attorney General's Office handles the eviction and an average eviction can cost the office up to $20,000.

"There is a waiting list at most universities for housing," he said. "There is no new housing going to be built in the near future."

So students who want to live on campus generally have to wait until there is an opening.

"Generally at Weber State, when we've asked students to leave, they leave," Perozzi said.

Weber State houses 680 students, he said. The yearly cost ranges from $2,187 to $3,150.

"Our rental rates are very, very low," he said.

Barbara Remsburg, associate director of residential housing at the University of Utah, told the committee the school does not do the student justice by waiting six months or more before evicting them.

"We need the ability to work with them educationally, to teach them how to pay their bill," Remsburg said.

Having a good relationship with the student helps the university recoup some of the debt the student has incurred, she said. Going to court takes longer and sometimes the student does not pay.

Currently the university has 35 students who are delinquent in paying rent for student housing. By the time the university goes through the process and sends out multiple notices, it will be three to six months before those who are on waiting lists will be able to use the rooms, he said.