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The Iowa Tenants' Project is part of the Law Office of Christopher Warnock and is committed to tenants' rights and to fair play for both tenants and landlords. The Tenants' Project seeks to educate tenants and landlords about their legal rights and responsibilities and to empower tenants to vindicate their rights in court. Currently good tenants suffer from bad landlords and good landlords suffer from bad tenants. We want to see both landlords and tenants follow the law and get a fair shake!
The Tenants' Project has won landmark victories in the Iowa Supreme Court in DeStefano v. Apts. Downtown, 879 N.W.2d 155 (Iowa 2016) and Caruso v. Apts. Downtown, 880 N.W.2d 465 (Iowa 2016). Here are the Supreme Court's decisions in DeStefano v. Apts. Downtown and Caruso v. Apts. Downtown. Here is What DeStefano & Caruso Mean for Landlords & Tenants.
The latest Iowa Supreme Court cases for the Tenants' Project are Kline v. Southgate, 895 N.W.2d 429 (Iowa 2017) and Walton v. Gaffey, No. 15-1348. Here are the decisions in Kline v. Southgate and Walton v. Gaffey. Overall in these cases we were happy to see that the Iowa Supreme Court confirmed tenants' right to a legal lease, a lease free from illegal provisions, and rejected landlords' arguments that leases could contain illegal provisions if they were not enforced. The Iowa Supreme Court rejected our argument and overturned the lower court's decision that the Landlord Tenant Act did not permit liquidated damages and set fees. Here is a brief that explains Kline and Walton.
Check out Moving Out Tips for Tenants!
The Iowa Tenants' Project is pleased to announce its Landlord Partners. These are local landlords who have agreed to participate in the Tenants' Project Complaint Process. Under the Complaint Process, tenants who are unable to resolve their complaints are represented by the Tenants' Project which assists them in resolving the complaint and the participating landlords have agreed to pay the Tenants' Project to represent tenants. Apartments Downtown, Apartments Near Campus and Apartments Near Iowa are part of the Tenants' Project Complaint Process.
The Iowa Tenants' Project also pursues class actions in order to clean up leases and ensure that tenants have a legal lease. Here is more information on Class Actions. The Tenants' Project currently has class actions certified against:

Latitude at River Landing & Rise at Riverfront Crossing

Follow the links for more information on these class actions. No action by their tenants is necessary at this time. It is not possible to join a class action, if you are eligible you are automatically included and will be notified later.
Here is information and rulings obtained both on appeal and in district court through Tenants' Project litigation.
While class actions are useful for challenging illegal provisions in standard leases, they are not effective for situations that require individual fact finding on a case by case basis like cleaning deductions for or damage to a particular house or unit. To assist with individual cases the Iowa Tenants' Project is also committed to educating tenants and helping them stand up for themselves. Take a look at our Landlord Tenant Law page for information on Iowa landlord tenant law and how to work with your landlord.
As part of its assistance to attorneys and community outreach the Tenants' Project offers free CLE, continuing legal education, for local attorneys. Here is further information on CLE

For further information go to the Iowa Tenants' Project Contact Page