As more than 1,400 sophomores start choosing housemates, finding sub-letters, scouting locations, and arguing with landlords over repairs this winter, half of them may have another angle to consider.
Many landlords are reluctant, if not unwilling, to rent to male tenants.
Similar to race, age, disability, religion and military status, discrimination based on sex is illegal under both Massachusetts and federal law, with few exceptions.
"Students are not a protected class under the Fair Housing Act," said Donna Rodriguez, Director of Off-Campus Housing in an email to the Daily. "If a student feels he or she is being denied a lease based on any of the above mentioned factors, they should file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination."
It seems that landlords' renting preferences are influenced by personal experience when renting to male tenants.
All landlords interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the legal issues involved.
One landlord, Ron, who has owned a property on Boston Ave. for 18 years, says he now refuses to rent to male students after being nearly forced to evict a group.
"It was pure hell with the boys, a combination of physical damage to the property, noise, clutter, and just general rudeness; they absolutely did not care," he said. "Since [then], I have refused to rent to boys under any conditions, for any amount of money."
"They destroy the property, and they have no conscience whatsoever," he said.
Now, "all I rent to is girls," said Ron. "I've found them to be excellent tenants and very responsible."
He does not see his experience with boys as an isolated incident but rather as a trend that affects many landlords renting to Tufts students.
"It's a widespread problem, and for whatever reason, guys are just totally out of control," Ron continued. "They think that no matter where they live, it should be treated like a frat house."
Sharon, who rents a house on Bromfield Rd. to five boys, has had troublesome male tenants in the past but has not ruled out renting to males in the future.
"I currently have a group of guys in my house that are fine, but in the past, [I] have had trouble with guys," she said. "They tend to have a lot of beer-drinking parties, and with that comes a fight or two; I've had a fist through the wall, and they were really sloppy and dirty with food, which bothers me because it encourages ants and roaches."
"If given a preference, I'd rather rent to girls," Sharon said.
While she said that her current tenants are polite and clean, past experiences with boys have influenced her willingness to rent to them.
"When these guys leave in a year or two, [and] if there was a group of girls that wanted to rent, assuming everything else was the same, I'd rent to them first," she continued.
Other landlords, however, have no preference in tenants, as long as they are clean, courteous and on time with rent.
"So far, I haven't had any problems with boys," said Gaetano, who rents his house on Ossipee to a group of Tufts students, including several males. "They've been very good tenants."
But according to Tom, who owns a property currently rented by Tufts students on Upland Rd., both sexes have their drawbacks.
"Girls for the most part leave the house cleaner, [and] boys tend to be louder because of parties," he said. "But the boyfriends usually hang out at the girlfriend's houses and not the other way around, so living below girls, there are more people in the apartment at any given time."
"And also, if you live below girls, girls wear high heels, and that's loud," Tom said.
Mindful of the law, he said he has no set policy about renting to male students. "That would be wrong," he said.
Excluded from Massachusetts' housing discrimination laws are owner-occupied houses with two units or less. Landlords who live in the downstairs apartment of a split house can choose their tenants based on sex, for example.
Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel has not seen any overwhelming pattern in noise complaints being attributed to male- or female-occupied houses.
Despite the perceived and occasionally legitimate bias against renting to males, the large number of available apartments off-campus continues to meet the annual demand of Tufts students.
"I don't think it will prevent male students from finding good places to live off-campus," Rubel said. "There are lots and lots of apartments out there."
