Student Senator Mike Park was appointed to the new position of rental issues director for the UW-Platteville Student Senate.

The rental issues position was created to provide UW-P off campus students with a resource if they had any questions about their rights as tenants, Frank Moullet, Student Senate president, said.

Park is looking forward to assisting UW-P students who live off-campus with housing problems that may arise.

“My goal as the rental issues director is to provide UW-P students living off-campus with a source of information they can rely on if a housing concern comes up,” Park said.

Rental issues provides students with information on ending a lease, preparing to rent, pets, eviction, security deposits, repairs, discrimination in housing and landlord retaliation.

“If we can’t help answer your questions initially, we have other resources to answer your question or we refer you to the right person who can,” said Moullet.

Park has fostered relationships with the city of Platteville and city landlords, he said. The position serves as a liaison between the campus and the city of Platteville.

“The rental issues director attends a number of weekly meetings with the city pertaining to such things as transitional housing, neighborhood relations, planning and development,” Moullet said.

Heather White, a music business major, appreciates the existence of a rental issues director.

“This is my first year renting a home off-campus and I would be unsure of how to handle a housing-related problem if one occurred,” White said. “Knowing that I have someone to talk to if a problem ever happens is very reassuring.”

The rental issues position was not in existence last year.

“As president of [Residence Hall Association] last year, I coordinated a rental issues forum, which a good number of students attended,” Moullet said. “This made me to realize how much the students really did need this resource, so when I was determining my cabinet last spring I reinstated the rental issues position.”

Park will continue the rental issues forum Moullet issued last year to improve off-campus living for UW-P students, he said.

“The presence of a rental issue director will prevent a lot of students from being illegally taken advantage of by their landlords,” Thomas Schumacher, a psychology major, said. “It’s good to know that if there is an issue, I have a place to go where someone can help me interpret the rental laws.

“Overall we feel this position is important as it allows the Student Senate to provide an additional resource to our constituents,” said Moullet.