USU student starts petition against Nelson Partners student housing

After dozens of complaints against Nelson Partners Student Housing in Logan, Megan Wilson, a resident of Logan and student at Utah State University, is working to form a tenants’ union and petition the city government for support of better housing conditions for renters.

Wilson began her efforts at the end of 2021 and has made a Facebook group, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and an Instagram account to attract the attention of and unify USU students and local property renters.

On Feb. 9, Wilson organized a petition on change.org titled, “We Demand Housing Justice for Logan, UT Students!”

The petition, which was signed by almost 100 people in its first four days online, challenges the Logan government’s decision to allow Nelson Partners to continue building even after publicized complaints and allegations against the company.

Wilson believes that corrupt management companies are attracted to Logan because of the city’s student population who will need to rent housing even in poor market conditions.

Sara Harris, a former resident of a property managed by Nelson Partners, shared her experience with the company.

Harris rented a Nelson Partners property after she had been in Logan for a year and moved out in April 2021.

According to Harris, instead of being paid her the deposit she was owed, Nelson Partners charged her another month of rent. Since then, even after serving the company a notice, Harris has still not received her money after months of trying to work with the company to collect her deposit.

“Last week I served a notice again and made it clear that I intend to file with the courts this week and that my attorney is ready to go,” Harris said. “I would like to caution students who are thinking about signing with Nelson Partners Student Housing. Housing in Logan is already a nightmare, don’t let this company add to it.”

Experiences like Harris’ are not uncommon with students renting from Nelson Partners.

Austin Goff is another former tenant who paid upfront for a school year in April 2020. Though he had already paid, he was continually charged for rent during the year.

“Over the course of that year they charged me around four times for monthly rent. Each time it was for different, random amounts and each time I tried to respond to them with an email, call or stop by the office,” Goff said. “They never responded to emails and any time I stopped by, they wouldn’t do anything about it. After I moved out, they still continued to charge me. In October of 2021, they sent me to collections.”

Wilson hopes to prevent students from needing to go through such experiences.

“Ultimately the union is aiming to address the whole issue,” Wilson said. “Given that Nelson Partners Student Housing is just a symptom, we figured we would start by addressing that symptom.”

According to Wilson, it is also common for renters to have issues with properties being unhealthy for tenants.

These problems involve things like flooded properties, black mold and the company being slow to respond to tenants with concerns.

In one case, Wilson said a tenant complained to the housing company that their apartment at Alpine Flats had a case of bed bugs so severe that their legs were scarred. The tenant was then moved to an apartment with black mold.

“I personally have lived in a few dangerous situations in the last year with other renting companies and thought that taking the big fish would be the best way to start off the union and to get noticed and to get the most people on board given their corruption,” Wilson said.

Those interested in signing Wilson’s petition can do so here.

-Brock.Marchant@usu.edu

Featured photo by: Kate Smith