Patrick Inorio walked into his newly rented Fairmount Hills apartment last fall and didn't find the sweet home he and his fiancee expected.

Holes in the wall, a dirty stove and a disconnected phone jack were among the disappointments, Inorio said. The apartment had been painted recently, but just around the furniture, and paint had been splattered onto the rugs and mirrors, he said.

"I was really hot when I first moved in," Inorio said.

After a semester of maintenance fixing "about one thing a month," Inorio said he is still angry and is using a classified advertisement to find other renters with complaints about The Apartment Store, which manages Fairmount Hills, 215 W. Fairmount Ave.

"Apartment Store management problems?" the ad asked and then provided Inorio's phone number. Inorio said he received about 16 calls concerning the ad, which ran from Feb. 2-5 in The Daily Collegian.

Complaints from tenants contacting Inorio included slow maintenance response and the feeling that the management does not respect tenants.

Angry with her management, Mary Auld (junior-health policy and administration) said she called Inorio after seeing his ad.

Auld lives in Penn State apartments, 529 W. Foster Ave., but said she had only minor problems with her apartment until recently, when two light fixtures "snapped" and went out when her roommate turned them on. The electricity also went out several times.

The light fixtures were rotted and old, Auld said, adding that a State College Borough code inspector looked at her apartment and told her it would have to be rewired.

Auld said although her maintenance worker has been helpful, she feels her requests to management have not been taken seriously.

"I get no cooperation," Auld said. "They were actually talking to me like I was some kind of idiot."

The Apartment Store has already begun rewiring the building and Auld's apartment will soon be rewired, said Earl Tribbit, Auld's maintenance worker.

Shorna Broussard (junior-environmental resource management) said she has been complaining about the lack of heat in the bedroom of her Park Hill apartment, 478 E. Beaver Ave., since last year. Workers have looked at it, but it still does not work, she said.

Her neighbor, Tricia Shortt (senior-communication disorders), also said she has had heating problems since October.

A code inspector told Broussard the temperature was not below the legal limit of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, Shortt said.

"They're missing the point," Shortt said, adding that she is sleeping in her living room to keep warm.

"They're just stringing us along," Broussard said. "It just seems like we have no rights."

But John Watson, manager of Caporuscio's Plumbing and Heating Inc., 523 W. Foster Ave., said his company has spent about 100 hours working in Park Hill this year alone to solve the heating problems. The parts necessary to eliminate problems have been ordered, he said.

Not everyone renting from The Apartment Store is unhappy. Jessica Yinger (senior-English) said she has had no problems with her Fairmount Hills apartment or management.

"Ours is real good," she said.

Mary Frantz, vice president of property management for the Keystone Real Estate Group, the managing company of The Apartment Store, said the only complaints she has heard are those from Inorio.

Apartment Store personnel make phone calls to more than 100 tenants a week asking people if they have any problems, Frantz said, adding that most feedback has been positive.

"It's not an attitude that we don't care," Frantz said. "If we didn't care, we wouldn't be making the effort."

Holly Houghtaling (senior-psychology) also said she was pleased with her Fairmount Hills apartment. Although she has had a few problems, she said maintenance is prompt.

But Inorio said he is dissatisfied with the efforts made to correct his problems.

When Inorio first arrived he filled out the damage check sheet provided and "calmed down," expecting things to improve, he said.

He said he had been promised a "special deal" -- a furnished apartment for an unfurnished apartment price -- and expected the security doors to be locked. But he had nothing on paper, he said, and never looked at the apartment while making living arrangements during a one-day visit in the summer.

After contacting the management numerous times, Inorio said he went to the Organization for Town Independent Students and consulted with the University's Center for Conflict Management, but found he could not get out of his lease because no part of it had been violated.

Frustrated, Inorio said he felt he needed to take action and decided to picket at the Housing Fair in the HUB Jan. 29 and 30. He also stood outside The Apartment Store's downtown office at 444 E. College Ave., he said.

"The way that they've treated me has to be grounds for some sort of action," Inorio said.

The Apartment Store management denies Inorio has any grounds for complaint.

Frantz said the claims Inorio made while picketing at the housing fair "were blatantly untrue," but that Inorio did have the right to free speech.

"I don't have a problem with people telling the truth. I have a problem when people lie," Frantz said.

Frantz said she would not comment on Inorio's situation further because his statements were not true.

"We are considering legal action" against Inorio, Frantz said.

State College tenants may also be looking for legal solutions to their rental problems.

"I've heard comments that a lot of people have been turned in to the attorney general's office," said Ginny Chubba, chairwoman of the Apartment Owners and Managers Committee of the State College Area Chamber of Commerce.

OTIS Adviser Forest Wortham said complaints about State College housing filed through OTIS have increased by about 300 percent this year, up from about 26 to 63 cases. Complaints cover security deposit holdings, responses to repair requests and customer service.

Wortham would not comment on which apartment buildings were complained about because he said he did not feel it was appropriate to do so.

Deputy Pennsylvania Attorney General Barry Creany said he could not confirm or deny complaints or investigations, but said he is aware that landlords are not always responsive to students.

"We definitely have been interested in the complaints with the landlords," Creany said.

State College Borough Rental Housing Inspector Ned Liggett said he has not had an unusual amount of calls from tenants to inspect apartments. But by the time tenants contact the building and housing inspections office, apartment managers usually are aware that the tenant has a concern and will promptly correct it, he said.

Many tenants are unaware of the definition of the codes and what constitutes a violation, Liggett said, adding that tenants may also not realize how long it takes to order parts.