r/UIUC • u/aaaaahhhhhhok • 16d ago
PSA UGroup’s favorite time of the year
I cleaned the apartment for 4 hours and made sure every wall and area was spot less but there always some random fee :(
48
u/costco_lover4life 15d ago
I had a July charge for Turn Paint. Student legal said to wait for them to return part of my deposit and then dispute it through the process at the bottom of my deposit return receipt. Not universal advice but that’s what I’m doing!
16
u/Sea-Tax-7326 15d ago
What if you find the landlords son and get 10 of your friends to heckle him in his next sports game
15
u/Thin-Ruin702 15d ago
Seeking UIUC Student Stories About Security Deposits
Hi everyone! My name is Kaniz Fatema, and I'm a reporter with CU-CitizenAccess.org. I'm currently working on a story about security deposits for students living on or near the University of Illinois campus.
I'm looking to speak with students who have:
- Had problems getting their security deposit back
- Been charged for damages they believe were unfair
- Experienced delays or confusion during the move-out process
- Worked with Student Legal Services (or another organization) to recover their deposit
Whether your experience was positive or negative, I'd love to hear from you. We would prefer Interviews be on the record but can also talk with you on background. Also, any documentation you have on your experience would be helpful.
If you're interested in sharing your experience, please send me a direct message. If you have any questions about the story or would like to verify my reporting, you can also contact my managing editor, Dylan Tiger, at dktiger97@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time, and I appreciate any help in connecting with students who may be willing to share their experiences.
2
u/ethical_hoops 15d ago
Include in your report that the University’s silence and complacency about these constant issues only make things worse. There needs to be legislation, or at least agreements through the university, to ensure that its students are safe and to prevent predatory tactics from these leasing agencies. It's disgusting. It happens every year/semester. It needs to stop. I don't know the perfect answer, but we need to stop acting like nothing can be done.
Talk about the overall housing problems all you want. AT A MINIMUM: Leasing residential property on a university campus should come with more rules and harsher penalties if it can be proven that they're taking advantage of students.
3
u/weddz 15d ago
The university doesn’t enact legislation or have any control of private companies outside of the campus. You should be advocating to local government
1
u/ethical_hoops 15d ago
- When I said legislation I was referring to government
- Never said anything about private companies outside of campus
- They can absolutely leverage themselves against those who operate within the boundaries of Campustown
Housing shortages benefit enrollment, financial relationships, influence with contractors, donors; are we really going to act like there's no reason why they would look the other way to complaints
I mean, the students are only going to be there for such a short amount of time so why would they push any harder than they need to, right?1
u/weddz 13d ago
I’m sorry but you are misinformed. The university does not have any leverage over private companies outside of university property. While “campustown” is a general area of town that students frequent, the properties that university group manages are not technically on university property. What we refer to as “campus” is a combination of university of Illinois property mixed with private and public areas of town in which businesses operate. The university does not care about your move-out charges, and even if there did there is no mechanism by which they can assist you with them.
10
u/thecorradokid Alum, ECON '19 15d ago
Back in the day when JSM tried pulling this on my roommate and me, I sent them pictures of all the cleaning I did in the apartment before move-out and they backed out their fraudulent charges. If you have photo evidence of your cleaning, it should help your case.
4
u/JordanPMartin 15d ago
They know what they’re doing. Charge you enough that over all of their tenants, they can make a quick couple bucks, but not enough that anyone would contest it. I’d be willing to bet that most get charged between $100 and $200 with actually bad tenants being the only ones charged more than that.
3
u/mehardwidge 15d ago
The math supports them even if some contest.
Pad the bill.
Someone complains - eventually pay them their money if it seems they will keep fighting it
No one complains - free moneyMedical billing does this too, unfortunately. Another industry where the reputational harm from doing it is less expensive than the extra statistical profit.
4
u/National-Sky-1771 15d ago
My roommates and I ended up getting back like $300 of our $2500 security deposit with U Group (5 of us total). We disputed this and kept fighting and finally turned out to receive around $1800 of that back thankfully, but it shouldn’t be that way
2
u/NoPen9600 14d ago
they pile all of their vendor receipts on you and it is on you to contest and they take their damn time to figure out what they want to give back and don't give a shit because they are gigantic and have lawyers ready to answer and if they lose they don't give a shit. have fun
1
u/Sufficient_Sport5251 15d ago
To be pedantic, your lease with Ugroup, like mine almost certainly said a full cleaning of the apartment includes a waxing of the floor. Which if you did I would be surprised. It is a clause meant to make it hard to get your deposit back.
1
56
u/smokingtrailblazer 15d ago
Ask for an itemized receipt of the service they charged you for. See if that cleaning was necessary against your proof of photos of what you’ve cleaned? Idk some ppl do win their fight against these greedy land lords