By Katy Zeigler, News Correspondent

The initial tour senior Tim Granger took of his 115 St. Stephen St. apartment did not give cause for the criminal justice major much concern. Other than a cockroach scuttling by, the space seemed decent enough. But as he arrived to move in with the help of his parents in September, his father, a contractor, immediately sensed there was something illegal about the apartment. Besides a single window looking out into the hallway the place was windowless, and its walls were covered in grime and muck.

“The person who used to live here before me shoved toilet paper into the door cracks so that cockroaches couldn’t get through,” Granger said. “There was also a radon vent installed in the tiny utility closet to allow the smell of rotting rat carcasses to go outside, but there was a hole in it so the smell ventilated into the bathroom.”

When the leaser, Alpha Management Corp., was unresponsive, Granger’s father had a city housing inspector examine the space. Granger lived there for about two weeks before the inspector deemed it unsafe and illegal, condemning the apartment. The inspector – whom Granger had to take to his apartment via an outside stairwell because they were unable to find their way to his apartment from inside the main building – cited the apartment for having no secondary emergency exit and no source of outside ventilation, two major violations.

Granger said of the grim conditions, “There was a tiny window that opened out into the hallway and there was tape over it. The utility closet of the apartment was also infested with bugs.”

A week after the inspector came, the apartment was condemned at a Sept. 18 Housing Department hearing. Alpha Management Corp., who leased the illegal unit, did not send a representative to the hearing. The city has had problems in the past with Alpha Management Corp., which has repeated offenses for the poor quality of its apartments, state records show. The management company had put up some resistance to refunding the security deposit and two months’ rent totaling $3,670, even after the inspection, Granger said, but did refund the money at the hearing. The company declined to comment for this story.

Granger said the university was supportive and sympathetic to his plight.

“The school was very helpful,” he said. “One of the building inspectors actually had a contact at Northeastern which was also helpful.”

He said the school put him up in temporary housing before moving him into permanent housing in West Village A.

“The school went out of their way to help me,” he said.

Granger said he has no plans to sue Alpha Management Corp. or to move off-campus again.

“I’m glad to be done with it,” he said. “Suing would take a long time and it could be a hassle – and I got my money back anyway.”