More students are mediating their rental agreements with landlords since the COVID-19 pandemic caused BYU to shut down the campus.
BYU's Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution anticipated a rise in mediations last month and issued a statement to set expectations for students.
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'Because of the possibly large number of COVID-19 housing cases, we expect that the dispute resolution process may take several months to work through the full caseload,' reads the Mediation Prep guide on the center's website.
CPCR Assistant Director Emily de Schweinitz Taylor said their predictions were right. 'We have received approximately 170 requests since the third week of March,' Taylor said. 'We have received six arbitration requests regarding COVID-19 housing cases.'
All COVID-19 housing cases will begin in a teleconference mediation session via Zoom, according to the center's website
'Each week, we are holding 20-25 mediations,' Taylor said.
The BYU CPCR does not have the power to release students from their contracts. Their website states
Maddie Rands, a junior studying studio art and education, is one of those students. She requested mediation just last week. She lived at Liberty Square, and is now looking to get out of her rental contract.
After filling out a request for mediation, she received a call from Taylor, who told her that there are over 80 open cases waiting to be mediated.
Rands is hopeful. 'I had a pretty good case,' she said.
According to Tim Metler of Legend Real Estate, the company already has
'I think we've been pretty successful working that through with the individual owners and tenants,' Metler said, speaking of previous sessions not related to the pandemic. 'We're feeling pretty good on our end.'