ComplaintsforAmerican Campus Communities

• Initial Complaint

  04/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is in regards to *********** apartments (associated with *********************): yesterday, I signed on as a guarantor for my daughter, *********************************, to be a resident at ***********. The intention was for her and her best friend (*****************************) to be roommates in a 4/2 that had 2 bedrooms available, per management. As this was my understanding, I signed on as the guarantor for the apartment. When her friend, ******* called the management office shortly afterwards my daughter submitted the paperwork, *********** management informed them that the 2 rooms in the 4/2 unit were no longer available, so they couldn't be suitemates. In addition, my daughter sent emails back and forth with *********** management (without my knowledge) changing the dates of the lease. Based on that and other concerning information, I called the management office today to terminate the lease. I was told by ****** that there would be a $750 charge for early lease termination; this is LESS THAN 24 HOURS after we submitted the papers. I also got information that my daughter was approved to live in a dorm on campus at **. I am requesting that the $750 early termination fee be waived based on the following: (1) my daughter's friend's room was given away in the 4/2 unit that she agreed to, (2) my daughter changed the dates of the lease without my knowledge with office management; she should have been given another lease, and (3) it's been less than 24 hours since we submitted the paperwork; from my understanding; there is a WAITING LIST of students that want to live at the complex, so finding another tenant to take her spot is not an issue.

  Business response

  04/29/2022

  Thank you for sharing your concerns. *********** and American Campus Communities lease on a first come first serve basis and although we would like to be able to accommodate everyone, we can only hold spaces for those who have signed a lease agreement with us. Your resident secured their space for the floor plan she selected because she signed prior to the spaces running out but her roommate did not. We will definitely keep her requested roommate in mind if/when we have openings in that floor plan and gender preference type. We strongly encourage her to monitor her email as we do email and call when spaces become available. 
  
  In regards to the lease changes requested by your resident, residents are able to request changes to certain parts of their lease (floorplan, payment schedule, start/end date) through their resident portal. Guarantors must communicate with their residents if they do not want any changes made. If you do not agree with the changes requested by your resident, please let them know you would like to be removed as their guarantor and they should work to find another guarantor. They can make this change in their resident portal as well. 
  
  As for your request to terminate, our lease outlines the cancellation and relet policies and although you changed your mind, the lease is a legally binding contract and we cannot adjust our cancellation/relet policy. Although you have requested to terminate your resident's leases, we strongly encourage you to wait as we still have a couple of months until the fall semester and will most likely have those who are looking to change their floor making space available for others. 
  
  If your resident does not want to wait and would still like to cancel their lease to live at a ******* facility for the fall, please provide us with that documentation and we can waive the fee due to our ** partnership. The only documentation we have received at this moment is for summer only which does not interfere with your resident's future lease at ***********. 
  
  Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office. 

  Customer response

  04/30/2022

  Complaint: 17113209
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  there is a good chance that if I wait until the Fall to relet the space, ACC will end up charging us for a years worth of rent; that is their trick. Due to the pandemic and being a single parent, I do not have money to potentially pay ACC over $8000.00 for nothing. Nadiya will be living on ** campus for the Summer and Fall. Unfortunately, I cannot provide documentation for the Fall yet because applications for Fall dorms are not being accepted yetand ACC knows that as well. I need to get some sort of guarantee that if I wait until Nadiyas application for a Fall dorm room is Approved and we submit the paperwork, we will be let out of the contract including the $750 relet waiver. Since there is a Waiting list of students wanting to live at *********** anyway, finding someone to take the space shouldnt be a problem. I am familiar with business practices, both good and bad; ACC could make an exception, in fact all businesses do. This is just bad business Makes ones wonder how much in these $750 and $8000 fees that ACC and Blackstone has profited from young, vulnerable college kids. The bottom line is that Id like a guarantee that if we provide documentation that Nadiya will be a resident on campus this Fall, the contract will be cancelled, the account will be closed and the $750 relet fee will be waived.

   

  Regards,
  
  *******************************

  Business response

  05/03/2022

  Thank you for following up for further clarification. ** started leasing for the ***** Academic Year in October 2021 and is still leasing for the fall. I am not sure where your resident went to apply or who they may have spoken to, but I have included a link to the ************************************* & Residential Life Apply for Housing page below. Other residents have been able to show proof of their fall housing agreements with ** but if your resident is having issues, please let us know and we can reach out to confirm. 
  
  https://www.**.edu/housing/apply/ 
  
  You are correct that your resident will be held responsible for the entire lease agreement if you do not meet the requirements to terminate or relet as outlined in the lease agreement you both signed. As mentioned previously, we will be able to release your resident with no relet or cancellation fee if they provide proof of their signed ***** Academic Year Housing Agreement with *******. 
  
  The only guarantees we are able to make you today is that your resident has secured their space with *********** for the ***** *************** year and the only instance where the $750 relet fee will be waived is if your resident shows proof of her ********** Agreement for the ***** Academic Year. 
  
  As an additional update for you and your resident, a 4x2 Female, Same Gender did become available for your resident's requested roommate, but they decided against changing floor plans. If your resident, does not sign with **********, we strongly encourage them to utilize RoomSync to find a roommate for the upcoming academic year. 
  
  Should you have any questions, please let us know. 

• Initial Complaint

  04/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Several issues with the maintenance that has been done on our apartment. Most of the work orders that have been completed had fallen apart after maintenance fixed it. Our thermostat has a change filter flashing light on it and we had put in a service request. It says the work order was completed, yet we still have the notification on both thermostats. Between my roommates and I we have put in many service requests for the dishwasher which had been flooding onto the floor every other time or so. Every time a maintenance person would come and it would say the work order has been completed, and then a couple times later it would flood once again. I called multiple times asking for a resolution and they kept sending people to fix it and it never worked. Finally they ordered us a new dishwasher, and installed it 2 days ago. Not to mention that they did not give us notice they would be entering our home before the installation, we came home to 2 men in our apartment without previous knowledge that they would be replacing our dishwasher. They installed it, and left. I went to turn it on, and I heard water ******* into the cabinets. Sure enough it was flooding, and I stopped the water. I called immediately and someone from the office came up, took pictures, made excuses of a new maintenance guy, and said he put in a high priority notice and it would get resolved first thing in the morning. Morning passed, so I called the office. They said it was high priority so maintenance should get to it today. The day passed and no one came. I am trying to reach out again but at this point they are not fulfilling their job and failing to follow through on promises and a lack of communication so we are left in the dark, without a working dishwasher. (Note: the picture we have of the water coming from the dishwasher was taken at the beginning of the flooding, much more water would spill out onto the floor)

  Business response

  04/13/2022

  The dishwasher has been replaced and is now working.  Unfortunately, the completion of this service request did not meet our normal standards. After attempting an in-house repair,it was determined that the dishwasher needed to be replaced. Upon replacement the installation vendor made an error that required an additional trip to repair and place the appliance in service. This is not the standard we look to achieve and will work with our vendor in the future to ensure such errors do not occur. Filter changes occur every 60 days.  The notification on the thermostat is independent of our filter change schedule. It will be reset next time we are required to enter the unit. 

  Customer response

  04/13/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son attends college at *********** and I pay for his apartment and bills at The Vistas. The Vistas will not return any of my calls or emails regarding an extremely high water and sewer billing error. My water and sewer bills combined were averaging $25/month up until November-December 2021. At that point the apartment fixed a running toilet in my sons bathroom (apartment issue - nothing that my son was at fault for). My Nov-Dec water **** was $121.34 and sewer was $99.53. I called several times and emailed a couple of times but never got a response. I also received a $83.90 late fee. The Vistas eventually gave me credit for that time period. The Dec-Jan water **** was $55.74 and sewer was $45.65 (my son was home for 2 weeks for the holiday break and was hardly using his apartment). My Jan-Feb water **** was $131.59 and sewer was $108.28 along with another late fee. Again I called The Vistas three times this month and no one will call me back, after being reassured someone would call me back regarding this issue. Ive even left a message for the General Manager, *************************. I dont pay that much for water in sewer for my house with three people living in it, so to assume one person in an apartment could use that much water and sewer is ridiculous. Not to mention my sons roommate is also getting the same high bills. I will attach the ledger - amounts due and late fees. Im appalled by the lack of communication and not getting any responses to my numerous calls. There is a plumbing issue that obviously needs to be fixed and credits that I need to be given for these outrageous bills. Is there any recourse? Can I break the lease thats up in May 2022? Should I get a lawyer involved?

  Business response

  04/04/2022

  The water/sewer bills are based on usage in each unit, unless maintenance is requested by the resident (running toilet etc.) management is not aware of the issue until the first high **** is received. Once this **** was issued, maintenance checked the unit and found that there was a running toilet causing increased usage. The issue has since been resolved, and in a addition to this the property has installed water efficiency components on all of the toilets on site. As a courtesy, management has also adjusted the water/sewer **** down for this period.

• Initial Complaint

  03/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed a lease agreement with this company for August 2021 to July 2022. We were told that if utilities were not put in anyones name that we will be charged 50 dollars each person, which is a complete cash grab. But I put the utilities in my name as to not pay that extra 50 dollars. Since then I have been having issues with a roomate not paying or paying late on the utilities. I've gone to Diamond ***** in the leasing office on multiple occassions to get asistance in that matter since December and to no avail. Now that my roomate sees the leasing office will not force anything in the lease he has told me he will not pay utilies at all while living there. I am now on the hook for over 300 dollars in utilities that none of my roommate have split with me. When I called to complain to the leasing office about it Diamond ***** instead started arguing and yelling at me over the phone. I continued to say, "**************" to get her attention so I can speak but she wouldn't let me. When she finally stopped talking I told her more about the situation and that if they were not going to hold anyone accountable to the lease agreement then why, am I still paying a lease. At that point I was given attitude and the situation still has not been resolved. At this point I want either my money back, or my lease agreement to be cancelled since the company seems to only hold the lease agreement when it makes them money and any violation that affects only the consumer is ignored. If this situation isn ot resolved I will seek legal consul. I will also like to add that drug use is not allowed in the apartments but my roomate does drugs all the time and nothing has been done by the company.

  Business response

  03/07/2022

  Hello,
  
  ****** resides at the ****************** location at Campustown Rentals where it is required that utilities are placed in the name of (1) lease holder within a residential unit. In the event the Resident failed to timely establish utility services, we may charge the Resident for any utility service billed to Landlord for Residents Apartment and may charge a reasonable administration fee for billing the utility service in the amount of $50.00. When ****** first moved into the apartment neither him or his roommates established utility services in their name in which they were all billed back for utilities for the billing period of 08/20/2021 08/24/2021. In addition to the **** back amount each resident was also charged the $50.00 administration fee. However, once ****** established utility services in his name Campustown Rentals kindly reversed the $50.00 administration fee to Victors account. Campustown Rentals will not agree to reimburse ****** for his roommates unpaid portion of utilities. Given that ****** had brought roommate conflict concerns to the attention of the Leasing ******** Diamond and Assistant General ******** ***** Campustown Rentals approved for ****** to transfer to a new unit. ****** is picking up keys to move into the new unit today, 3/4/2022 before end of day. If ****** continues to experience any future roommate conflict issues or has other concerns he should continue to reach out and work with Assistant General ******** Suha.However, we are not agreeing to cancel Victors lease as other reasonable accommodations have been made. Alternatively, ****** has the option to go through our re-let process if he wishes to discontinue his stay with Campustown Rentals and American Campus Communities. However, ****** is solely responsible for his current lease and all financial responsibilities until he finds a replacement to take-over his current lease and completes steps in the releasing process with Campustown Rentals.
  
  Please let me know if you have any further questions and I strongly encourage ****** to do the same.
  
  Thank you,

  *********************************

  Area Manager

   

  Customer response

  03/07/2022

  Complaint: 16843313
  
  I am rejecting this response because: a part of my contract/lease agreement says I will 1/3 of the utilities. I have paid the whole thing. Which violates that agreement, because of this I demand my contract be terminated. Also the front office has already stated that they cannot help me with receiving the other 2/3 because they cannot force any of the tenants too. Lastly it was ignored in the businesss response but my past roommate deals drugs and that is a violation of the agreement. Its obvious the business only cares about its rent and adding unreasonable fees to everything. A relet is 250 on top of the 250 I have already been forced to spend to move out of an apartment with someone dangerous that the company allowed in.
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  03/08/2022

  ******,
  
  The lease contract outlines that the Resident will be charged for the full period of time that the Resident was living in, occupying, or responsible for payment of Rent or utility charges on the Apartment. If the Resident breaches the Lease Agreement, the Resident will be responsible for utility charges for the time period the Resident was obliged to pay the charges under the Lease Agreement, subject to Landlords mitigation of damages. In the event the Resident fails to timely establish utility services, we may charge the Resident for any utility service billed to Landlord for Residents Apartment and may charge a reasonable administration fee for billing for the utility service in the amount of $ *****. Once utilities are established under the Residents name the financial responsibility is solely that of the account owner with the **************** not Campustown Rentals or American Campus Communities. Most CDS sale crimes are felonies and this activity that you are stating to be taking place by your roommate needs to be brought to the attention of the *************************** as we do not represent Legal Law Enforcement. As requested, not by Campustown Rentals forcing you, you were approved to transfer to a new unit with new roommates, in which you accepted those keys for on Friday, March 4th, 2022. Campustown Rentals will not terminate your lease contract but will agree to refund the $2***** transfer fee that you paid.
  
  Thank you,
  
  *********************************
  Area Manager

  Customer response

  03/08/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution to refund the **************************
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I recently paid a $50 application fee for an apartment at ************* ******* because I thought I was going to be attending ********** but my plans changed. Before I paid this application fee, I had a lease signed with UTrails and I was still trying to find someone to take my lease and it was stressing me out because I couldnt find anyone. Since I thought I was going to be going to Tech and decided that Im not, I went ahead and signed the lease but it was waiting for the landlord/managers signature(***************************). A few days later, I asked him if he could hold back on signing because Im still not sure if I want to move in. This was on January 3rd and I assumed he understood because he didnt sign the lease. On January 23 at 9pm, I got an email saying the lease has been completed and signed. I was really confused because I asked him to hold back on signing because I didnt want to live there anymore and I wont be attending **********. I sent him an email saying everything I mentioned on here and he didnt respond. What I really dont understand is, I have no credit, no rental history, no income, so how did I get approved for an apartment? I cant afford paying rent for somewhere Im not going to live especially if Im going to be living in another state. This is stressing me out a lot and Im asking for some help in this situation because the whole situation is weird. They shouldnt have approved me if I have no source of income or credit. I listed myself as the guarantor. I dont have a guarantor and they still accepted me. I would really appreciate the help because I dont want to get involved with anything legally just because of a lease.

  Business response

  02/17/2022

  Thank you for reaching out with your concerns. 
  
  Per the lease agreement that was already executed by both parties,
  
  "If you move out before the Ending Date, your Rent for the remainder of the Lease Term is still payable by you to us as you have violated the
  Lease Agreement. If you have not or do not intend to move in to your Apartment on or after the starting date of your Lease Agreement you
  are still obligated to all terms and financial obligations under this Lease Agreement. A buy-out clause or cancellation fee is not applicable.
  You may be able to release your rights under this Lease Agreement for the same terms and conditions to another person provided the Manager
  gives written consent, but our consent is at our sole discretion. Your obligations will be terminated under this Lease Agreement once the
  Replacement Resident has completed all necessary paperwork, all fees are submitted to Manager, and Manager approves and executes the
  Lease Agreement for the Replacement Resident. Should your request to transfer your rights under this Lease Agreement be approved, you
  also have to pay us a Reletting charge equal to $250.00, which charge will serve to partially defray our costs in making the Premises available for reletting and for administrative costs for reletting the Premises. The Reletting charge is not a cancellation fee, buy-out fee or a limitation
  of damages collectable by us."

  When you first reached out to our *************************** with respect to this issue, as a customer service gesture to the prospect, we opted to fully terminate one of the two lease agreements that the prospect had signed with us and fully released the prospect out of their lease with another property that is fully owned and operated by American Campus Communities. This was done at no penalty to the prospect with no $250 fee being collected. 
  
  
  With respect to the guarantor issues being brought forward by the prospect - 
  
  "The Guarantor has guaranteed Residents duties and obligations hereunder pursuant to a separate Guaranty Agreement (herein so called) executed by
  Guarantor. Residents failure to provide an executed Guaranty Agreement shall not render this Lease Agreement invalid but shall be a default of this Lease Agreement
  (unless a Guaranty Agreement is not required pursuant to the Qualification Guidelines of this Lease Agreement). No Resident shall occupy the Premises without satisfying
  the guaranty requirements of the Qualification Guidelines of this Lease Agreement. The fact that you have not provided an executed Guaranty Agreement does not release
  you from your liability under this Lease Agreement and all Rent and other obligations."
  
  Ultimately the management company has the right to execute and approve the lease without the guarantor qualifications being met as students often times pay for their lease agreement via funds they receive from their University - Scholarships, Grants, or Loans.
  
  While we were certainly work on the responsiveness to emails received by our on-site teams, ultimately, we will stand with our current position that the lease is valid and that the prospect will need to complete out a Relet request via their resident portal in order for the property to assist in backfilling the space, once the property has reached 100% pre-leased for the upcoming Fall term. 

   

  Customer response

  02/23/2022

  Complaint: 16748860
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I still have one issue though. I have tried multiple times to contact the manager at 21 hundred and still have not received a response back.
  Regarding the guarantor, before the lease was signed with 21 Hundred, I asked one of the employees if they would accept a third party service that could act my guarantor. I was told that it would be accepted and thats what made me fill out an application with this property. About 3 weeks later, I get an email from the guarantor service stating that 21 Hundred has rejected them as acting as mg guarantor. So, if 21 Hundred knew they werent going to accept the third party service, why did they tell me to go ahead with the application? Why did the manager sign the lease if he knew I had no guarantor? 
  

  Even though its a student housing property and you dont consider credit, income, I never told 21 Hundred that I had ways like using financial aid, scholarships, etc to pay off the apartment. I dont consider this right. 
  
  Regards,
  
  Madison Camara

  Business response

  03/02/2022

  Dear Leaseholder,
  
  We apologize if there was a lapse of communication between yourself and the General Manager of ********************************. We will ensure to address your concerns about the lapse of communication over to the General Manager and to the management team so that they may consistently provide good customer service to all of our perspective and current residents. 

  With respect to the email that was sent that was not responded too, although your request to not execute the lease would have been notated, ultimately the General Manager of the property must execute all leases at the property. Per the lease agreement "The fact that you have not provided an executed Guaranty Agreement does not release you from your liability under this Lease Agreement and all Rent and other obligations."
  
  Due to the lapse of communication between yourself and the General Manager and the lapse of customer service provided to you, as a one time courtesy, we will approve for the third party service to be listed as the guarantor on the lease agreement. 
  
  Ultimately, the properties actions all fell in accordance with the legally binding agreement that you signed and was then counter signed by the landlord. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I'm paying rent to The Edge apartments for them to continue to have people who is on the least to continue to violet the rules and put the other roommates lives in jeopardy for the reckless decesions they continue to make. After multiple complaints for over a year from all roommates they continue to do nothing. There has been conversations with this roommate personally on so many occasions and even with the office but they continue to say it's this process which is understood but for over a year and what has been expressed in the contract does not add up. It clearly says after 3 consecutive issues it would come to action where you would be removed. I have submitted messages to management with no call backs in regards to the on going issues. I need someone to assist in helping with this issue so that they can resolve issues at this complex as a whole.

  Business response

  01/20/2022

  On September 22nd,2021, management was made aware that there was a guest of a resident in this apartment while the resident was not home. Management went to the apartment and asked the guest to leave the premises and explained that he could not be on the property without the resident present as outlined in the lease agreement. The following day,September 23rd, management issued a verbal warning to the resident for the lease violation and made note on her account of the verbal warning. The resident complied. Management was made aware of and verified a subsequent lease violation and issued a final written notice to the resident on January 11th. Management spoke with ************** after issuing the final notice and explained that we had issued a final notice. The guest policy was reiterated to ************** and she was instructed to notify management if the problem continues. ************** was satisfied at that time. We will continue to monitor the situation and enforce the lease should we be made aware of any further lease violations.

  Customer response

  01/20/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: This has been more than an ongoing issue for over a year and the only thing they continue to do is remove him for him to come back and do the same thing and put our entire unit in harm for leaving doors open and unlocked. Nothing has permanently been established from this ongoing issue.
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  12/13/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My son was going to school in San ****** and entered into a lease with the Retreat Apartment complex earlier this year with four other students (five total) Since then, my son no longer goes to school in San ****** and has moved back to Huntsville after a death in our family. We have tried to honor the lease he has with the Retreat, but it has become a hassle and a burden. The payment portal is very unreliable. We have had multiple issues. The first month, my son could not access it to pay rent, so I had to mail a check in. The check was not credited to his account even though all the requested information was written on the check. Upon inquiry, it was up to me to contact the accounting **** to fix this issue. Last month, my son was charged an additional $150.00 that I was told was for water and trash, which is a ridiculous amount. This month, the portal is having issues again and we were told to contact accounting. Their solution was to wait until it was fixed, then go in and change the amount drafted to cover December and January, and then go in again and change it back. Dealing with company is cumbersome and we just want out of the lease. I have offered to pay a fine to get out of this lease and be done with this complex, but they refuse. I have spoken with a manager who was pleasant, but ultimately no help. The complex is supposed to be a better alternative for student housing, but it definitely is not. These students are young and trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. There should be some compassion given when their lives are turned upside down. This company gets at minimum $674 a month from each student living on the complex. That's $3,370 a month just for the unit my son lives in. For this kind of money, I truly expected better. This place has horrible reviews.

  Business response

  12/06/2022

  ****, we apologize for the delayed response regarding your concerns at The Retreat. We didnt receive the original complaint dated 1/6/22 until last week. Were sorry to hear about your familys loss and the payment issues you experienced at the property.  Our records do indicate that your sons lease was taken over on 2/10/22 which did release him early from the contract.  If you have any questions, please contact our **************** Team at ************.  Again, we apologize for the delayed response.
  
  ***********************
  CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGER
  
  ********************
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  11/10/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a co-signer in the lease of a shared unit in ************* Apartment located at *********************************. My daughter, a ** student, rented a unit that has three separate bedrooms and bathrooms designed for three student occupants. Since the past year, the management failed to lease all bedrooms in the unit. Now that no student rented two other bedrooms this year, they wanted my daughter to pay the utility **** in full amount for the entire unit. As per the lease agreement (section 15, lines 1-3), my daughter is supposed to pay only her portion of the ****. It is the responsibility of the management or ************* but not us to share the electricity **** portion for two other students who do not exist. We agreed to pay the entire charge for the water and sewer, as my daughter is the only user for those, but not the electricity portion thats cooling all bedrooms and bathrooms of the entire unit at the same time. There is no submeter that can read usage per room. ***** made us pay the entire **** for September ($92.32) and October ($75.61). They refused to share or make any adjustment to the **** amount. Instead, they kept arguing with us that we must pay utility bills for the entire unit and threatened us that if we leave the apartment, we have to pay full rent for the rest of the year, and a penalty. We are asking BBBs help to find a solution to this exploitation of the students and unfair dealings of the American campus management. .

  Business response

  11/15/2021

  To Whom It May ******************** is in response to complaint #********. As per Naazneens lease, the utilities are split between the residents residing in the apartment and not the number of bed spaces. Please see the below excerpt from the lease agreement in which this is explained. As communicated to the resident and guarantor, if ******** would like to transfer into an occupied unit, we would be able to accommodate this.
  
  Electricity: Owner will remain the customer of record for electricity. The local electricity provider measures electric usage in each Apartment and bills Owner directly for such charges. Electricity charges for each Apartment will be divided equally by the number of Residents in each Apartment to come up with each Residents charge. Resident agrees that Owner may estimate any and all utility charges upon Residents move-out (or at any other time) and such amounts shall be deemed final.

  Customer response

  11/16/2021

  Complaint: 16116897
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  We disagree with the response from the business.
  
  Line 2 they quoted states that Resident agrees that Owner may estimate any and all utility charges upon Residents move-out (or at any other time) etc. The statement was made for the residents who leave without paying their bills. The line did NOT clarify that the existing resident in the unit is liable to pay other residents portion of the electricity **** in the apartment in the event other residents leave or no resident occupy the other bedrooms and bathrooms in the unit.

  
  Please see below the lines quoted from the same lease agreement, page 7, section 15, line 1-3.
  
  "15. LIABILITY OF RESIDENTS. Each Resident of an Apartment is jointly and severally liable with the other Residents
  of the Apartment for all lease obligations relating to Common Areas; however only you are liable for the lease
  obligations relating to your Bedroom and the payment of your Rent and other payment obligations under this Lease.
  You are not liable for any of your fellow Residents obligations as to their bedroom or their rent payable to us. Your
  bedroom has been assigned to you by the Landlord. If you fail to move into the correct bedroom, or elect to switch
  rooms with a roommate, you are still responsible for the room that you were assigned to. We will not rearrange room
  assignments. Any damages to the room that you were assigned to are entirely your responsibility. Damage to the
  common area spaces will be divided equally among all Residents unless one Resident claims responsibility in writing
  to Manager for the damages. Residents are responsible for any damage/violations caused by their guests.
  16. LIABILITY OF LANDLORD. If we violate this Lease, before you bring any action against us for such violation, you
  must first give us written notice of the nature of our violation and allow us 30 days to cure it."
  
  The paragraph in fact says that each resident pays only their portion of the rent and other associated charges (utility **** is the only additional charge and our obligation). Thus, we argue that were not legally bound to pay the utility **** for the entire unit. The **** should be split into three parts, and we are supposed to pay only the part which is our obligation. It is unfair for the landlord to force us to pay portions for unoccupied rooms and spaces in the unit.  It is the responsibility of the landlord to pay utility or electricity for two other unoccupied rooms in the unit.
  
  Regards,
  
  R Huda

• Initial Complaint

  10/20/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  ******** in ******* *****. I received an email about past due amount of $210 on October 8th. Found out that this was about damages to the apartment. This notification was after the dispute date expired (Oct. 1). I contacted them by phone. they said to email a Kmize address, which I did on Oct 12th. No response. Called again they gave a different "bookkeeping" address. Sent on Oct. 15th. No response. Sent another today (October 19th) to both. No response. I am the co-signer/guarantor and was only notified by email after due date. Not acceptable. $140 of the damage is on a couch from a pet not owned by my daughter and only had to room with this person because she was placed there. How can we be liable for a pet she does not own. supposedly there are photos but they would not show them. We had to pay already to avoid credit issues since we were pressed for time due to late notice. I thought they would return emails to try and work this out but they have not. Emails saved.

  Business response

  10/26/2021

  Tell On August 30th, 2021 all residentsthat leases ended On August 2nd, 2021 were mailed a final accountstatement to the address the resident  provided on file to address allfinal billing and account balance. On October 8th, 2021 anotherround of communication, via email, went out to all residents regarding theirfinal account statement and payment deadlines. On October 12th, JeffHogue, emailed *******************, University Trails bookkeeper, regarding charges onhis daughters account. Jeffs main dispute was the $140 charge for couchreplacement. University Trails has 30 days to respond to all residents anddisputes. On October 20th, *******************, the bookkeeper, responded toMr. ***** (all within the 30 day communication requirements) letting Mr. ********* that she is investigating the dispute and has 30 days to respond. OnOctober 22nd, *************************, the General Manager, researched thedispute and agreed to waive the $140 couch charge, however, all other chargesstand per the lease document the resident signed for common area charges.us why here...

  Customer response

  10/31/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  

  I emailed the business the same day I received this notice to try and set up a refund process since we had to pay to avoid credit issues.  Since the BBB only allows 6 days to respond I needed to respond to the BBB.  The business, I guess, has ******************************************* their previous reply.   I have yet received an email from the business stating how we are going to receive our refund of $140 that they agreed to take off the ****.  

  
  Regards,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  10/11/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed 1 of 4 independent, 12 month leases for a 4 bedroom apartment which clearly stated that each occupant would only be responsible for 25% of the utilities **** each month. However, I was charged 41% of the **** for the 10th month, and 33% of the **** for the 11th and 12th month. I reached out to American Campus multiple times (they didn't respond for a very long time per usual) and was finally told to contact ************. ************ handled the situation quickly and professionally and informed me that American Campus manually changed the **** distribution for my unit with no explanation. I have since contacted American Campus multiple times and have heard nothing back. This blatant overcharge for utilities comes at the end of a long string of exploitive and misleading behavior on behalf of American Campus.

  Business response

  10/22/2021

  To whom it may concern,
  
  My name is *********************, and I am the Assistant GeneralManager at The Block. We appreciate your patience while we looked into thematter regarding *************************, a resident that resided in our complex thispast leasing term. After following up with our point of contact at ***********, he provided us with an explanation regarding the utility **** breakdownfor May, June and July. I have attached the email response from our Simple Billscontact for your reference.
  
  Per Grants email, and our own rent roll records, onlythree residents had resided in the 4 bedroom apartment that ****** occupiedduring the last term. One of the residents that was supposed to reside in theapartment had skipped out on his lease agreement and never officially movedinto our complex. We discovered this during our June rent audit, which resultedin the adjustment of the utility **** breakdown.  If you have anyadditional questions regarding the matter, please reach out to ********************************************************.
  
  Best regards,
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  11/01/2021

  Complaint: ********  
  I am rejecting this response because: I recently filed a complaint pertaining to a utility overcharges. American campus responded but provided incorrect information. They claim that the 4th resident "never officially moved into our complex" when he in fact lived in the apartment for many months. I also spoke with an American Campus Representative earlier who claimed that all financial responsibilities (including rent and utilities) are held independently by the (in this case 4) lease agreements. I specifically asked if in the case a resident were to fail to pay their utility bill, the other residents in that unit would be responsible for it, to which I was told no. I was also informed that if I were to move out early, I would remain responsible for both the remainder of my installment and monthly utility bills. This appears to be yet another instance of false information being provided by representatives trying to attract new tenants.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******

  Business response

  11/08/2021

  To whom it may concern,
  
  I am emailing to clarify some misinformation from our original response. ****** was correct in stating that the fourth roommate, ****** ****, had resided in the apartment for the Fall 2020-2021 lease term. ****** had signed a 10 month academic contract with the Block, while his roommates had signed 12 month contracts. The academic term of the contract lasted from August 15, 2020 - May 31, 2021. During the lease term, the utility bill had been evenly split between all four roommates of the unit. When ******’s lease contract ended on May 31st, he was no longer an occupant of the unit. Due to this, ****** was taken off of our rent roll for June & July. The previous General Manager, communicated this to Simple Bills, who then readjusted the bill breakdown, so that Elliot and the two other remaining residents were charged an equal 33%. We hope this better clarifies the situation regarding the utility bill breakdown.
  
  Best regards,
  
  ***** *****
  Assistant General Manager Operations
  
  The Block
  T: 737.249.0907
  
  [email protected]
  2501 Pearl St.
  Austin TX, 78705
  Tell us about your experience
  
  AMERICANCAMPUS.COM

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