Married Students In Harvard Dorms Avert Rent Hike

The Real Estate Department agreed Friday not to increase rents for married student apartments in Holden Green and Shaler Lane next year. The department had originally proposed a rent hike of at least $40 per month on each apartment.

Russell E. Hill, director of the Real Estate Department, Friday proposed rent increases of 8 to 10 per cent--about $20 per month on each apartment--for future years.

John McMahon, president of the Holden Green Tenants Council, then proposed that the residents of the 100-apartment building take over the management and maintenance of the building beginning next fall. McMahon said yesterday the tenants believe they could save at least $25,000 a year in maintenance costs.

The Real Estate Department backed down from its original $40 per month rent increase, McMahon said, because the tenants' council found items in the budgets for the buildings that could be reduced or eliminated.

Hill said yesterday that the tenants also suggested different accounting methods that could realize some savings.

Hill agreed at the meeting to give the tenants figures of actual costs incurred in maintaining the building this year. He had already given them the costs projected in next year's budget.

But Hill said yesterday he plans to meet with McMahon this week to discuss "whether it would be appropriate for a student group or a private management company to submit a proposal to the University."

Olive Branch

If the tenants' council still wants to propose a maintenance plan of its own, Hill said, he will provide it with the cost figures they have requested.

McMahon said yesterday the administration is skeptical about the tenants' proposal for cooperative management at Holden Green, but that Hill said Friday he will look at their proposal.

"Personally, I don't think that it would be a viable alternative. They are non-professionals, and they only had the budget figures for 24 hours, and yet they said they could save $37,000," Hill said yesterday.

After McMahon proposed the co-op management plan, Hill suggested the tenants enter into a "partnership" with the real estate office next year. Under such a partnership, the tenants' representative would review the budget for Holden Green with Hill each month.

If they can save $37,000 under that system, Hill said yesterday, he will support the tenants' request to take over the management of Holden Green for the following year.

McMahon said yesterday, "There was no dramatic showdown" at Friday's meeting because "the promise of a rent freeze took most of the pressure off."

The tenants are still interested in co-op management, McMahon said, not primarily as a way of saving money, but as a "means to lessen the amount of time we waste in dealing with the Real Estate Department.