For the many students denied Penn State housing last week, a seminar about apartment leasing could help them find a place to live.

The Undergraduate Student Government department of Legal Affairs will hold a lease seminar at 8 p.m. today in 165 Willard.

The seminar is directed toward helping students who were denied housing find an apartment and avoid the possible havoc that can accompany the search.

"Basically, this is to give information to students that didn't get housing," Crystal Slaughenhaupt, USG town affairs coordinator, said. "We'll tell students what to look for and what to watch out for when signing an apartment lease."

Slaughenhaupt said the main focus of the seminar is on helping students with their first-time signing or even students who have already gone through the apartment lease-signing process.

"We wanted to get to these people within a reasonable time frame," Sara Havas, USG director of legal affairs, said. "We're a resource for them."

Fliers about leases will be available for students to take with them as well and informational overheads will be presented. The seminar will explain contract language that people should know before leasing and provide examples of issues that students have already had to deal with in signing for apartments.

"We want to let people know to be careful," Havas said. "We want to show students how not to get taken for a ride."

Something that Slaughenhaupt said the seminar would cover is the application to lease and what students are entitled to and what the application binds students to when they sign it.

Havas warns students to ask before they sign. When a person signs to intend to live in an apartment, they are sometimes bound to sign the lease, she added.

Slaughenhaupt said the seminar would give different questions to ask when looking for an apartment, such as: What utilities are you liable for? Are pets allowed? Are parties allowed?

The event will also deal with the aspect of joint liability leases, which require all roommates to be liable for the rent.

Derek Germann, community manager at The Pointe, said, in regard to his apartment's applications, "In the leases, they state exactly what the rent is."

Germann said that every potential occupant receives a copy of the lease. The occupant's parents also receive a copy and they have seven days to cancel.

In terms of hidden fees, Germann said, the copy of the lease, with all of its terms and conditions, provides the prospective renter with plenty of opportunities to catch problems.

The session will warn of little clauses with in the lease that could come out later, said Slaughenhaupt.

Another focus will be on security deposits and damage charges. Most security deposits can only be withheld for unpaid rent and damage.

Germann said that at The Pointe it is just their particular apartment that renters have to pay for and no fees would be given to renters for damages outside their apartment.

Slaughenhaupt said, "We're here to give a service to students to help them out."