Student tenants at off-campus housing complex fed up and speak out against poor management

Although the semester has just begun, tenants at Alpine Flats, an off-campus student housing complex, have already had multiple issues and submitted complaints regarding rent money, contracts, and their living situation.

According to one current tenant, Seth Parry, who is also a sophomore at Utah State University, his experience with Alpine Flats, although it has been short, has been a nightmare. 

Parry explained it started with annoying changes that proved the management to be disorganized from the beginning. 

He said although he and his roommate had signed a contract in March for a one-bedroom apartment, Alpine Flats had contacted them in July informing them there was no longer availability for that room and they would have to switch to a two-bedroom apartment.

Parry also stated that although they wanted to find another living location due to this conflict, Alpine Flats gave them only one day to decide whether they would sign the new two-bedroom contract.

“Obviously no other housing is gonna reply within a day, so we were kinda stuck living in a situation that we didn’t want to be living in,” he said.

And the complications didn’t stop there, Parry said after they signed the second contract and went to find their room on check-in day in August, the management informed him and his roommates, the contract they had signed was nowhere to be found in the system.

Eventually, they sent him to a room that already had full occupancy and then to a room that Parry described as “the most disgusting place I’ve ever been in, in my life.” He alleged black mold covering the entire bathroom and said it looked like the place had never been cleaned.

After a very frustrating day for Parry, and many other tenants with similar stories, he was finally put in a three-bedroom apartment, with a third contract and was required to pay a third application fee of $50. 

Lauren Morrow, a USU senior, has lived at Alpine for a year now, also expressed frustration from the start after waiting six hours on move-in day to get into her apartment. 

She noted one of the ways management got tenants to resign contracts for the following year was to promise no application fees, no deposits and no administration fees, however, when it came time to move in, they didn’t keep their word. 

Chelsie Brown-Candia, the regional manager under 800 Block, but recently hired as a manager over Alpine Flats, explained most of the disorganization and confusion is because of the fact she is the only person working there right now and that was hired only a few weeks ago, so naturally it has been a slow process trying to figure things out. 

As for the fees, Candia explained all tenants must pay an application fee because it pays for a credit and criminal records check. Additionally, a security deposit also must be required in order to hold tenants accountable for having a clean apartment when they leave. 

The manager said admin fees were waived for all of the tenants due to many people being moved around during a very chaotic move-in day.

Numerous attempts to reach Nelson Partners were unsuccessful prior to publication deadline.

However, this isn’t the end of the story. Emmet Hart, Parry’s roommate, explained not only is the management unorganized and unprofessional, but said he feels all the tenants are being scammed. 

Hart said originally his rent was around $375, however, within the past week it went up to $400 without being notified. 

He also mentioned he has received at least three new contracts to sign within just a week, even though he already has one signed.  

“Everyone in our apartment was wondering what was going on,” Hart said. “A couple of my roommates went into the office and the worker said it was a glitch, but I think they were just trying to see who they could get to pay more because she changed it for everyone who went in but I haven’t gone in to talk to her about it yet and mine is still $400.”

Candia also had an explanation for this occurrence. She said the system was recognizing fees as of the current date rather than the date when the individual’s originally held the apartment.

“Everything is edited back down to their original rates. The system has already corrected itself and I believe everyone is handled now,” she said. “They actually got a better deal in the end because I got their admin fee waived.”

However, current tenants like Rylee Newey, are still having troubles, and in her case, she continues to receive eviction notices. 

On her account, her bill statement showed she still owed rent money for August, however, Newey claims she had already paid it. After addressing the issue and being told by management the problem had been solved, the balance still remained “unpaid” and more fees were added.

Newey confronted the manager again and was reassured a second time the problem was fixed.

“Then when September rent was due, I paid it, and then I got the eviction notice,” she said. “I called [Candia] and she didn’t answer, so I called again and no answer. Then I texted her and she responded saying that she would check on it later. Then I got a second eviction notice.”

Lauren Broadhead, a returning renter this year, shared during the summer after mistakes were made on her rent payments, her account showed she was officially evicted, but the administration told her to ignore it.

And with more troubles regarding leases, Broadhead and all of her roommates ended up not having a contract at all for at least a month.

“We were concerned that at some point however, we would be kicked out of the apartment complex for illegally living there even though it wasn’t our fault,” she explained.

Hart also added their rent has always been due on the 31st of each month, but without notification again, management changed the rent deadline to the sixth and then charged all of the tenants a $50 late fee. 

Not only has Alpine Flats allegedly raised rent and changed due dates, but Hart claimed they aren’t returning money where it belongs.

Hart shared that his friend, who was originally planning to live there, had purchased a parking pass but when he found a new place, Alpine Flats took the parking pass, and said they wouldn’t refund him the $400 until they could sell it. 

“The problem is, I went in there the other day to buy a parking pass and they told me they were out, which means they sold his and didn’t tell him and so he’s still out the money,” he said.

Individuals at the Nelson partners owned complex were actually so upset with the administration that a flyer was anonymously created, slipped under each door and put on every car in the parking lot, asking for everyone to stand up to it and voice their complaints and spread their stories. 

Mikaela Smith, a current renter who has also been threatened with eviction, said she even  went so far as to talk to legal professionals about the situation to get some advice on what she should do.

“The paralegal said that this is an intimidation type of scam and that I should ignore everything they send me,” Smith said. “They’re just making up a bunch of stuff. I think Nelson Partners probably thought that they could take advantage of us.”

Candia disagreed with these accusations and wanted people to know if they just come to her, she is more than willing to solve any problems. 

“Ninety percent of my people already paid all the fees up front, so these little straggler ones are just making it a bigger deal than what it really needs to be,” she concluded.

With information regarding legal troubles facing Nelson Partners, and countless more stories from both past and current tenants still to be told, this is just part one of two regarding this story, stay tuned.

-Jacee.Caldwell@usu.edu

@JaceeCaldwell