Students are struggling to receive their full security deposits back from property owners after the latest round of academic year leases terminated in August.

Many renting students were slapped with charges for cleaning and maintenance after they moved out, which were withheld from the security deposits they paid upfront to cover potential damages to their unit. With little evidence of the repairs, students seek the return of their missing hundreds.

“After we moved out, we made sure to clean (the apartment),” said Juliana Petrov, junior in AHS. “We vacuumed, we dusted, we cleaned the carpet. It was spick and span, not a single speck of dust.”

Petrov and her roommate Claudia Majercak, junior in LAS, were charged over $500 for cleaning, painting and carpet cleaning after they moved out of their University Group apartment in Champaign this summer. 

“There was nothing that needed to be painted,” Petrov said. “At least not from us.”

The state Petrov and Majercak left their apartment in contrasts the way they found it upon move-in, which furthers their dismay about the money they were charged. 

“To start, they said that it would be cleaned and it was not,” Majercak said. “There were nail clippings in the drawers. It was not dusted, our balcony was covered in bird poop.” 

Petrov echoed these sentiments, sharing disappointment in the cleaning done after the previous tenants left.

“So moving in, we saw U-Group had left a little business card saying that one of their business firms cleaned the apartment, and it was signed, and I wish we had kept that for proof saying that it was signed because now we’re fighting a battle with them,” Petrov said.

The roommates sent an inquiry to University Group to have the charges dropped. The company said they would respond within 14 business days, but a month came and went without contact. 

“And then they said today — we called — and they lost our inquiry,” Petrov said. 

Petrov and Majercak have the confirmation email from the inquiry, as well as pictures they believe support their claim to the return of the rest of their security deposit.

“It just seems like they’re just trying to, like, avoid the whole thing and trying to get us (to) back down,” Majercak said. 

This experience is not unique to undergraduate renters on campus. Sasha McDowell, graduate student studying comparative literature, was charged $750 after she recently moved out of a University Group apartment in Champaign.

Like Petrov and Majercak, McDowell filed a dispute over the charge to her security deposit, which was likewise promised a response within 14 business days.

“And that was Aug. 31,” McDowell said. “Still haven’t heard from them, but I have gone to Student Legal Services, met with them. The lawyer there sent out a letter to University Group on my and my former roommates’ behalf.”

The letter claims there was not a great amount of damage, and the apartment was actually left cleaner than it was found. Additionally, it accuses University Group of not providing receipts for the invoices McDowell was sent. 

“When we’re not seeing proofs that it’s being cleaned, we’re not seeing a paid receipt, we’re not able to verify someone else actually received the money — that’s the issue,” said Anthony Allegretti, directing attorney at Student Legal Services. 

Without receipts to match invoices, renters are unable to confirm if the amount they were charged was spent in full toward the maintenance done on their unit. This leaves them, and Allegretti, with unanswered questions about where the money is going.

“There should be something attached to it, and we just don’t see it,” Allegretti said. “We see a lot of unpaid invoices with a lot of boilerplate language about what was done, an hourly rate, times by a number of hours and a charge. But then that’s really kind of it. And, again, sometimes those things don’t even correspond with the proofs we’re seeing in evidence that we do see.”

While Petrov, Majercak and McDowell are all currently disputing a single organization, University Group is not the only property manager students are aiming to have their money returned from.

“We are getting disputes across from all of the major landlords in town. I haven’t seen anyone left out of the big-time guys,” Allegretti said.

Renters have also disputed Green Street Realty, Smile Fairlawn Student Living, Roland Realty and JSJ Property Management.

“(Student Legal Services) is the only place you can go as a student to talk with a lawyer about landlord-tenant issues. That’s a large chunk of what we do,” Allegretti said. “Right now we are in the middle of security deposit season.”

Leases in Campustown generally operate on an August-to-August cycle. As a result, Student Legal Services handles security deposit disputes every year, most prominently in the early fall. As of Sept. 25, the office was booked for two weeks due to the volume of students seeking legal assistance. 

“Another thing I want to add is (University Group) said today on the phone call that they’re dealing with a lot of inquiries,” Petrov said. “So it kind of made me think, ‘Why is there a lot of inquiries about getting your security deposit back? Why is every student (with) U-Group not getting their full security deposit back?’”

With disputes arising across all the major property owners in the area, the experience has left some looking for alternatives.

“I wanted to find a place that was like the antithesis of University Group. I wanted someplace small,” McDowell said. 

Though McDowell is having an improved experience with a smaller lessor, that isn’t the case for everyone renting outside of the larger companies. 

Joanna Dai, graduate student studying nutritional sciences, lived in an Urbana house purchased by Tim Chao, owner of BakeLab and BrewLab.

“Based on the law of Urbana, the landlord is supposed to give you back the (deposit) between like 30-45 days, so then after 45 days I started texting him,” Dai said. “That was the only way I could get hold of him before. And then he started ignoring it.”

Dai didn’t have any charges for cleaning or painting like her peers. Instead, her lessor was simply withholding her money. 

“He was like, ‘Oh, you can just share your Venmo with me,’ so then I just shared my Venmo information with him,” Dai said. “Then I never heard back from him again. I kept calling him, I kept texting him, basically nothing.”

It wasn’t until after she reached out to Student Legal Services that Dai received her security deposit back in full.  

“I finally contacted the student legal office and I got to meet this really nice lady … She’s one of the attorneys that’s helping the students,” Dai said. “So then she started calling Tim Chao for me and also representing me, leaving him voicemails.” 

Dai supplemented the calls by approaching Chao’s fiancée about the issue, who she knew from doing business with at BakeLab. Dai’s persistence was successful, and she received her deposit later that week.

“I was going to go on social media and expose BakeLab and BrewLab if necessary, or ask my friends to hold up signs for me, like, in front of BakeLab or go on protesting for my deposit,” Dai added. “But it didn’t need to happen, which I’m glad because it would take a lot of courage to do that.”

With security deposit disputes becoming a widespread campus phenomenon year after year, students have strong theories about why they continue to be an issue. 

“I think it’s because they think students are stupid,” McDowell said. “I think they think that we’re a bunch of dumb college or 20-something students who don’t know our rights.”

Petrov and Majercak felt a similar way, believing companies are just trying to take as much as they can. 

“I think they know that college students are uninformed about the resources that they have and the rights that they have … and the resources available at U of I,” Petrov said.

From a legal standpoint, Allegretti recommends thorough documentation to have the best chance of receiving your deposit back at the end of the lease.

“Document the condition of your place when you move in, when you move out, fill out all the movement reports, submit work requests when you need to and save all that information somewhere that you’re gonna have 30 to 60 days after you’ve already moved out,” Allegretti said.

Even this won’t necessarily guarantee the deposit’s return without a fight: Petrov and Majercak have the documentation their lessor wants but are still waiting on their deposit.

“I mean, you know what? You learn something, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Majercak said, reflecting on the whole experience so far. 

Though Majercak’s newfound strength is not currently evident in her bank account, she and Petrov will be more informed renters in the future, as will the many students having to learn the time-consuming process of fighting for themselves.

[email protected]