Sana Jaffery & Nathan Cieszynski: COVID-19 and Can College Students Terminate Apartment Leases?

In this episode, public policy student Sana Jaffery, real estate lawyer Scott Talkov, and Fair Housing of Riverside County program manager Nathan Cieszynski talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about options and resources for students who wish to terminate their leases due to COVID-19.

About Sana Jaffery:

Sana Jaffery recently found herself facing a housing issue, only to find out hundreds of students dealing with the same crisis.  Jaffery had previously spoken about this issue  on NBC4 News.

About Scott Talkov:

Scott Talkov is a real estate, business and bankruptcy litigation lawyer in Riverside, California and former partner at one of the Inland Empire’s oldest law firms.

Learn more about Scott Talkov via https://www.talkovlaw.com

About Nathan Cieszynski:

A HUD certified housing counselor, Nathan Cieszynski is a program manager and counselor at the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County.

Learn more about Nathan Cieszynski via https://fairhousing.net

Podcast Highlights:

“The landlord wants your money. You already have your money. So every time you pay them, the landlord has won."

-       Scott Talkov on the topic of understanding your position of power as a tenant.

“The city of Riverside has a program for rent relief and what it's set up to do is, is to bring you current on your rent.”

-       Nathan Cieszynski on the topic of utilizing government programs, if you would like to or must remain in your apartment lease.

Interviewers:

Maddie Bunting (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)

Genevieve Chacon (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador)

Music by:

Samuel Roberts (UCR Public Policy ‘20)

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Xylo-Ziko/Minimal_1625

Commercial Link:

bity.ly/uc-rent-el

Resources:

UC Riverside Legal Clinic

Talkov Law

12 Tricks to Terminate a Student Lease at UCR due to Coronavirus Force Majeure

Lease Termination Letter Template

Fair Housing Council of Riverside County

Rental Assistance Program

FHCRC Phone Number: 1-951-682-6581

This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: https://spp.ucr.edu/

Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast.