Provo man frustrated that his landlord won’t let him fly the Ukrainian flag on his apartment patio

PROVO, Utah — The unfolding war in Ukraine is stirring Utahns in powerful ways. Almost daily, we see events, drives and other efforts in the Beehive State for Ukraine’s people. A Provo resident is among those Utahns wanting to show his support. But when his landlord refused to allow him to display the Ukrainian flag on his patio, he contacted the KSL Investigators.

At Colonial Flag in Sandy, they are cutting and sewing fabrics of blue and yellow as fast as they can to keep up with orders for Ukrainian flags.

“Usually, we do five to ten a year and in the past couple of weeks, we’ve done over 400,” said Devaughn Simper.

Not only does he help make the flag, but the vexillologist also studies them.

“The (blue) represents peace and serenity and the blue skies over Ukraine,” Simper explained, “and the yellow represents their power and strength and the wheat fields of the heartland.”

Simper says the only other time he has seen this sort of surge in demand for a nation’s flag was 9/11.

“Most people want to do something to support the effort in Ukraine in one fashion or another show their solidarity with the people there,” he said.

One of those people is Owen Barrott of Provo. He hung a Ukrainian flag out on his apartment’s patio.

“Hits your heart,” he said, “because you see these like blown out buildings in like tanks rolling down and bombs falling. But at the same time, people are standing up against basically what’s one of the world’s superpowers and being willing to stand up and fight for their right, it just really gets to you.”

But within two days of his flag going up, Barrott said the building’s management told him to take it down. Sure, they feel for the people of Ukraine they said, but if the flag was not gone in three days – he would have to go.

“We’d serve you a notice to vacate the property to vacate the property which just was really surprising to me,” said Barrott. “It’s like, okay, you’re willing to go that hard over a Ukrainian flag?”

Can property managers do that?

Barrott’s lease from Redstone Residential is clear: “No signs, banners, or flags to be hung from the balconies,” it reads. Utah state law only protects U.S. and Utah flags from property management authorities, but no such luck for other flags.

So, what does the apartment complex have to say about all of this? The KSL Investigators reached out to them on Barrott’s behalf directly they responded that they, actually, tend to agree with him.

In a statement, Redstone’s CEO and co-founder, Grant Collard told us offered this rationale behind the policy:

“400 Element is a diverse and inclusive community. As with most multifamily communities, we attempt to provide an environment that allows for each resident to call this their home. To avoid the potential for confrontation and division, the community has a policy that prohibits the display of flags (other than a properly displayed flag of the United States of America), posters, signs, and displays in windows and on patios and balconies. Both the State of Utah and the Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin, race, color, sex, religion, disability, and familial status. Often policies are enacted to be consistent with the goals of prevention of discriminatory actions or the appearance of preferences that could be discriminatory. These help maintain the sense of community and avoid many of the pitfalls inherent in multi-family communities.  Consistency in the application of policies is important. Adjustments of established policies based upon current events or other outside factors leads to potential disenfranchisement of other residents.”

But in Barrott’s case, Collard also wrote “Given current events, I think we can make an exception.”

As far Barrott, he says he gets why there are rules.

“I feel like we need to have a fair amount of respect to the landlords because this is a building that they control and fair enough, they have a policy in place,” he said.

Still:

“All I’m doing is flying in a place that I control. It doesn’t show anything on them, it’s not like the apartment complex is flying it. It’s a closed off space. I should have the right to be able to fly the Ukrainian flag for my own home.”

He said he hopes from this point, Redstone Residential will reconsider its policies and have a little more flexibility.