When a 27-pound piece of drywall falls from your ceiling, it's time to hassle maintenance.

It shouldn't take a falling ceiling to get realtors to maintain their property. Unfortunately, it took the broken arm of a tenant who fell on a sidewalk and a caved-in ceiling in one of the apartments to spur action in Heritage Oaks Apartments last week.

About 50 tenants met in the laundry room of Heritage Oaks because they said they were tired of waiting for maintenance to fix lighting and sewage backups and to shovel ice and snow from the sidewalks.

These tenants dispelled the myth that realtors and officials never listen to students. They showed that banding together to combat unsafe living conditions can be effective.

Patton Township, the municipality where Heritage Oaks operates its units, gave the realtor an ultimatum, and the apartment management resolved nine violations of property maintenance codes. They cleared sidewalks, paved driveways, removed ice from apartment roofs and fixed water damage in seven apartments before the 48-hour deadline expired.

It is despicable that the realtor only maintained safe living conditions after being threatened by the township. But it is even worse that after a tenant broke her arm and a ceiling caved in that Heritage Oaks manager Wanda Ahlberg apparently didn't think the tenants' meeting was necessary. Obviously the tenants needed to do something before more there was more structural damage and injuries.

Other local realtors should take heed and take responsibility for their property's safety -- especially during the treacherous winter conditions. Students shouldn't have to campaign to have the place they pay for maintained -- but they did prove that such efforts do pay off.

Inherently there will be a realtor like Heritage Oaks that allows maintenance to slip. Apartment dwellers should learn from these tenants and go after the realtor until they get what they want before it's too late.

So, if your heat's not working or there is a sheet of ice in front of your apartment, don't wait for maintenance to come knocking on your door -- because they may never appear. Take a stand, and make sure you are getting your money's worth.