Rent is a simple concept.

Every month the landlord gets his money, Joe Pennstater doesn't get evicted from his State College pad, and no one has to pay any exorbitant fees.

Right?

Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

In October 2004, one student living in the Meridian apartment complex, 646 E. College Ave., thought he had taken care of his rent.

"We weren't aware that we had missed a month's rent," Mike Gordon (junior-chemical engineering) said.

Gordon said he assumed his September rent was paid when he moved into his apartment in late August.

Had he read his lease more carefully, he would have realized he had actually paid August's rent, not September's.

"When we talked to the one of the secretaries in the rental office, she said it happens every year," Gordon said.

Gordon's lease is a 12-month installment lease, meaning although he lives in his apartment from the end of August 2004 to the beginning of August 2005 -- 11 months and 13 days to be exact ---- he pays rent 12 times, not 11, like he thought.

Leases are not always a student's best friend.

Still, those with complaints or challenges about bad apartment experiences are in the minority, said Kris Holzwarth of Associated Realty Property Management (ARPM).

"It happens so rarely it's not worth it," Holzwarth said. "We manage about 1,400 units, and maybe one time per year we're in a situation where we're forced to go to court."

Jose Texidor, legal counsel for the Penn State student body, said more than 50 percent of students who come to his office for legal advice do so for apartment related questions.

"I would say between 500 and 1,000 students come to me every year," Texidor said. "Complaints about security deposits, proper procedures any and all issues, students come to me."

Horror stories and all, one of the top complaints about living in State College is still in the apartment search process.

The hardest part is to find a place where everyone can have his or her own bedroom.

That was priority number one for Kellyn Nagel (sophomore-international politics and Spanish) and her six roommates.

"It was pretty impossible," Nagel said. "We went to all the realtors around the area...to get our own room."

Nagel said she started her search in October, and even that was too late for most places.

After a frustrating, exhausting look into nearly every State College realty or property management company, Nagel finally found a house in the West College Avenue neighborhood owned by an independent renter.

"It's difficult to get a single-person bedroom apartment in downtown State College," said Nagel, who is currently sharing a bedroom at Cedarbrook Apartments.

"It's ridiculous how early you have to start looking for apartments around here, especially because we didn't want to pay $500 and $600 a month for our own rooms."

As of Jan. 24, Holzwarth estimated that ARPM was about 80 percent rented for fall 2005.

Holzwarth also said that since most State College area companies now list all of their properties on Web sites, the resources are available for students year round to make the search easier.

The deck may appear to be stacked against students in the apartment rentals game, but Texidor said there are a few easy steps students can take to ensure they won't be seeking his advice about legal mishaps.

"The key things students don't do is in the initial steps," Texidor said. "Some places, when students submit an application, they're actually agreeing to things in the future lease -- a lease they haven't actually read yet. They're befuddled."

"Right from the beginning, do an inspection of the apartment and save the checklist. That way they won't charge you for damages incurred by a previous tenant," Texidor said.

It may seem daunting, but in State College the apartment search isn't always all doom and gloom.

"There are some real good landlords out there," Texidor said. "There are others who are in it only for the money. But remember, there are some really good landlords out there."