University group is cheap and notorious for horrible customer service. They try to add additional fees for just about everything. The property manager, Katie, is the worst property manager I have ever had. In the time that I have had my apartment, we were charged $100 for insufficient funds, (which we later contested with the bank and got our money back), $150 for not having an electric account (although no one was occupying the apartment and all the utilities were off), and $50 for subleasing to a new tenant, though we could have done that on our own for free. If you have any sort of technical issues, they are no help at all. God bless my Chase bank and the electric company Ameren for their excellent customer service in all our apartment issues. read more

All I can say is: DO NOT live with University Group. Around a month after we moved in, the rain drops caused a whole in our ceiling -____-. And the rain dropped in our apartment. Also, our fan in the bathroom broke after we moved in, we called them more than 5 times, and I went to the maintenance office 2 times in person. Every time they said they'll come and fix it but they never did. Now we've lived here for 4 months and the fan still maintains broken. Our handle on the apartment door almost dropped. Reported several times with the fan problem, UG doesn't care at all. By the way, a raccoon came to our living place a day ago. We tried really hard to keep it away. read more

Their customer service is so horrible! They don't care about the people who rent from them, are not accommodating and do not communicate. They try to loop you in to things and don't try to make any resolutions. They overcharge you and I even had a month without internet and they made no steps to try to resolve it! My roommate and I had to handle everything! There are so many better leasing companies on campus! read more

They have a very responsible maintenance department. I've requested maintenance three times, and each time someone was here within 20 minutes and fix the problem within 1 hour. I had experienced water leaking from bedroom ceiling when I was a tenant at CPM, and they just advised me to put a bucket under the leaking area, and waited almost a week to fix it. Compared to that, I think university group is much better at maintenance services. read more

I lived at gregory towers it was HORRIBLE this review is on the page for gregory towers. It's a complete MYTH that every reasonably priced apartment has roaches and thin walls (greg towers had thin walls too + a plethora of roaches). I live at 201 E. armory now and it is GREAT and the walls are thick and i have seen zero roaches. Living at Gregory Towers and having to deal with University Group people ruined my entire living experience there. read more

Most terrible manager ever. When I move out, we have cleaned everything. But they still charge me $350 for cleaning with no explanation of why. Believe me, don't live there. They recently purchased a lot of apartments around the campus. They first thing they do is increase the price universally. read more

Do. Not. Sign. With. Gregory. Towers. Or University Group for that matter. It is ridiculous. Currently, I am listening to a loud group of construction workers yelling and making so much noise as I type this because I am unable to do schoolwork. There is so much information that I will try to convey. The lack of care, absolute disregard of basic living needs, and the many, many ridiculous ways that this apartment complex has such a low bar for how they should treat their renters. First, my four roommates & I signed back in December 2019. We were told that Gregory had recently been renovated, which was a huge reason we signed. We thought it would be better for some of our allergies (several of us have bad allergies) since it was newer materials in the buildings, that we wouldn't have to worry about lots of breaking things and that construction wouldn't be a possibility. So when COVID hit, we knew that we would be stuck in our apartment pretty much all the time, with classes would likely be more remote and study spaces would be closed. We then got an email offering a spot in a different building because of possible renovations, & we jumped on it. They told us that all of the spots had been filled and we wouldn't be able to transfer, which we tried to follow up on, because it seemed extremely unfair. We would be stuck with the same apartment we signed on, with possible renovations and the same high rent. Then we moved in. It was awful. They are renovating OVER HALF OF THE APARTMENTS. FULLY renovating. All day, 6 days a week, from at least 7 AM until almost 7 PM on some days, we hear pounding, yelling, music blasting, hollering, trash every where, and any other manner you can imagine of annoying and frustrating behavior. All while living in a tiny apartment with tissue paper for walls and big sliding doors that let in every lick of noise. So, after months of enduring this, we reached out to try to get some kind of compensation for our absolutely ridiculous situation. The elevator is always broken, we have had to put in three to four maintenance requests for our dishwasher just for it to never be fixed (or even improved), have unmasked, yelling construction workers constantly in our space, and zero cares from the leasing company. They responded by saying no, that the workers were all wearing masks, they wouldn't give us any rent relief, and that these concerns were actual issues. That we should've contacted them sooner, these issues weren't something that would warrant a rent reduction, and essentially that we should bug off. Our living situation is unbelievably ridiculous for the rent we are paying, and it's unfair for them to have done this to us. To either allow us to sign when they knew they wanted to do renovations, or to organize renovations when they knew everyone would be home with COVID. I have plenty of videos, photos, and emails to show their distinct lack of care and callous ignoring of these issues. We have sent these, but been ignored. An incomplete list of issues: - Workers loudly and unmasked in the tight living spaces - Leaving garbage, debris, smoking right outside our apartment doors and leaving the buds everywhere, etc - the elevator constantly being broken. At this point it has been broken for nearly 4 weeks, and I live on the fifth floor. At one point, they pumped water out of the elevator shaft for over 12 hours and the water was gushing out. I also have video of this. - The lack of care and concern by the UG staff - The UG saying over email about the issues being resolved, when we have showed them the issues and also told them we would provide evidence of it (videos, photos, etc), and the issues continuing. There is more to say, but I literally can't fit it due to the character limit being exceeded. Their only solution was for us to end our lease, which is a ridiculous way to "solve" this, because we don't have a way to find a new apartment for the last 5 months of the semester for FIVE PEOPLE. How is that fixing the problems they have created? Or compensating us for the last 6 months of this? How do I leave less than a 1 star. read more

My water meter froze with the lovely weather we've been having! Rick helped out with this issue only about an hour after I submitted the request and stayed until the problem was fixed! I was impressed by the various techniques he used in attempt to fix the problem. He was very persistent and continued trying different things until something worked! read more

Every single time I talk to someone, no one knows what's going on. They have changed my parking twice now without ever updating it in my lease. I have had nothing but issues with them every time I have had an issue. Highly recommend other leasing companies such as JSM. read more

Company completely deleted their Facebook page after I left a negative review about how they damaged my property...They have been doing construction on our building for the entirety of the semester and now have a forklift that they drive recklessly and ended up damaging my bike to the point where I can't use it and will not reimburse me. DO NOT SIGN WITH THEM. read more

This group is horrible. DO NOT stay here! I've been living in apartments in Urbana-Champaign for over 5 years and have not seen any group that violates personal space and privacy like the University Group does! They would just enter your apartment with permission. The staff in the front desk and the maintenance team is super racist. Horrible customer service. Please don't stay here. I will probably terminate my lease early because I can't stand this place any more. read more

Since my sophomore year, I have been a tenant with the University Group. Overall. I find myself very unhappy with their service. Yes, their apartments are cheap- they're also rather dirty and old. (When they say they clean the apartment before you move in...they don't really. The first time I moved in, there was a wrap around the toilet seat that said "cleaned" but there were bits of old throw up all over the seat). Their apartments are also probably in the best locations around campus (close to the quad). It ends up being a trade-off between a landlord you trust and a cheap apartment in a good locale. Several instances that really upset me in my time (3 years) with U Group not including my toilet seat cover story: - I signed a contract with them to transfer apartments after the summer was over and upon my return from summer break, BEFORE MY LEASE HAD ENDED all of my roommate and my things had been completely cleaned out. They admitted that it was their mistake and "reimbursed" us for a fraction of what everything they took cost (clothes, TV, lights, desks, cleaning supplies, dishware, etc...), and that was only after constant in-person and phone badgering for about a month. - This happened a few times, maybe three times; I would place a maintenance request in August when I got back to school, and no one would show up unless I called again and again. - They do this thing where they show your apartment (which is fine!) but they do it at weird hours of the day with no warning. One October morning I woke up at 10 am to a tall man standing in my bedroom doorway with about 3 other people by his side. (I'm just saying, they could call or something right before they get there; they have all of our numbers on the leases- and, its fking 10 am.) - This past summer, when I called the office to ask when our official transfer agreement was finalized before school started (I'm from California, so its a bit of a hassle when summer rolls around to deal with apt stuff) and at first they told me they would tell me in a week. A week turned into two weeks, turned into the next month. As you can imagine, it gets frustrating because I have to buy my plane tickets- when I eventually told them about my situation with the plane tickets, the lady that I was talking to told me that I needed to be patient, and that I needed to give them a chance blah blah and then HUNG UP ON ME. (I think ALL OF SUMMER is a pretty good "chance". I wasn't able to buy my plane ticket back to school until about the second week of August.) - There seems to be a lack of communication within the employees in the office. And I say this completely neutrally. They "lose" documents very easily. One of the summers I sublet my room to another girl, and U Group complained that she wasn't "technically" on the lease, even though previous to subletting another employee told me that it would be fine. - This happened to my roommate: U Group called and told us that they didnt recieve rent from one of the girls in i think September last year (that would be my roommate), which was strange because on my roommates online bank statements, the check was shown as cashed. This problem, I remember, took a while to sort out as well. Even after my roommate physically walked over to the office with her computer in hand and an online scan of the cashed check. Pros: relatively cheap apartments and locations very close to main campus. Cons: Management that could use some improvement. Due to their good locations, they know that people will always occupy their units, and hence the shoddy service. Avoid if you can, but I don't know if thats possible given the limited options on campus. JUST BEWARE AND TAKE PRECAUTIONS WITH YOUR THINGS!! read more

The University Group was absolutely AWFUL to lease with. The customer service was terrible, managers were rude and they charge you a "general cleaning fee" regardless how spotless you leave the apartment. read more

The rooms and apartment as a whole is so tiny. The fire alarm goes off even when I toast a piece a bread. You can't cook anything without it going off every 5 minutes. Maintenance sometimes takes a while to respond to my requests and I have to call multiple times. The upstairs rooms get extremely hot and the downstairs rooms are extremely cold. It is nearly impossible to reach a fine temperature throughout our unit. When we moved in, it was dirty and the toilet didn't work and our shower head had no water pressure and we had to wait a few days for them to be fixed. Rent is $450 an there is no option to bundle with electric, cable, water, etc. We had to find several other places to separately plan and pay these utilities. It brings the rent to now over $500 which is not worth the small space. Parking is $80 a month which is overpriced. ROTC practices at 5 am a few days a week right outside on the armory grass and wakes me up in the mornings. The walls/windows are not sound proof at all. Appliances are old and the oven smells when it is on and also sets off the fire alarm so you can't even bake anything! There are no amenities whatsoever. The closet space is EXTREMELY small. The set up of the rooms has a corner window and is inconvenient and theres not much you can do with that area. Overall, very disappointed with the condition of the apartment. I would not recommend. The close distance to the quad is not worth it. read more

totally horsesh*t service. They're very nice to you while you're signing the lease & stuff like that, but afterwards they treat you like GARBAGE. -leasing office: unhelpful robot service, never try to budge with them with anything, as they DO NOT care about you at all. All they do is to repeat themselves and being rude and keeps on talking with a really sh*tty attitude. -maintenance: YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME. they will not do anything unless you CALL them everyday for at least a week. As the only thing they will tell you is they will get to you tomorrow. DO NOT try to email them as you will never get a reply. (if you did, go buy some lottery) I'm so glad I did not sign this apartment for the next year. so MOVE ON GUYS! read more

When I received the apartment the entire place was a mess, even though they were supposed to have cleaned it before I moved in. Paint was chipping, window blinds were grey with dirt (they are supposed to be white), the carpet was filled with hair and even had some jewelry and cat toys. The heater was completely chipping, and dropping paint flakes into the carpet. I ended up cleaning the whole thing myself despite the fact that the reason I moved in late was because they said they would be cleaning the apartments before move in. At the end of May, 3 months before my lease ended they contacted me about replacing the carpet with a wooden floor. I was out of town for a few days when they did this, and when I came back, all my things had been basically thrown into the kitchen, completely messed up, and there was dust all over my bedsheets, the floor, everything. Again, I ended up cleaning this myself. It is now September and I just got only about half my security deposit back with charges for carpet cleaning, apartment cleaning, and painting the walls at move out...when there was no carpet at the time I moved out, I had never once stuck anything on the walls of the apartment, and I left the floor much cleaner than I had received it both at move in, as well as after my carpeted floor was replaced. When I moved in there was colored tape on the living room windows in the shape of a sun or something, and I couldn't get it out at all, so at move out I had put black chart paper to cover it up...which still resulted in the apartment looking much neater and cleaner than the windows had been when I moved in. I even wiped down the window blinds, making them look much whiter than they had been at move in. I contacted the university group about my security deposit refund and was told that I would be emailed to talk about it. I am currently waiting for them to handle this situation with me, and will change this review if I get the security deposit back in full. read more

Reached out to Property Management due to an outstanding maintenance issue that has not been resolved to date. As someone who does not create maintenance tickets and to have to wait and have to endure the ignorance of office staff I think its a bit concerning. It is going on two weeks now where I have had issues gaining entry into my own apartment complex. When I called and spoke to property staff they were extremely polite to begin with, however, when I asked if I could have an update regarding my maintenance issue I was told that I needed to call a separate number. I'm not going to hang up to call someone else when I am actually speaking to a member of property staff in management office especially since issues are not being resolved. This is just creating a further inconvenience for residents. When I was on the phone with the member of property staff who stated that her name was Bervely, I asked if she would be able to transfer me over because I am not going to hang up and call someone when I am speaking to you, especially since the issue was not been resolved to date. She said no that she could not transfer me over to maintenance but I could call and I asked if she could ask what the issue is with the my work order, she stated that I called the leasing office and I would need to call maintenance. When in reality, I called my management company to get an escalation on a work order that has not been completed to date. And then Beverly decided to hang up on me. When I called back Beverly picked up the phone and I informed her that I just called in relation to a work order and she hung up on me. Beverly responded with, "I didn't hang up on you, I transferred you." I basically went back and forth with Beverly as if I were a child in grade school about the fact that earlier she told me that I had to call the Maintenance number, she responded with you do. I personally, do not know how someone so trite and just plain ignorant who has zero to no customers service skills whatsoever could be given the responsibility to pick up the phone and represent a company that is reliant on the appreciation of customers. Not only did Beverly not provide me with adequate customer support but even if she were to hint a smidge of frustration over my end in relation to my outstanding work order to not take my name, unit, and phone number to try to escalate the issue that has been an issue for so long but to just hang up on me, and may I add prior to actually even providing me with the maintenance phone number is by far one of the worst forms of customer support I have ever had the experience of enduring. Not only that but to be a representative of an industry that is reliant on customers informing them of property conditions and to be non-shalant about a property issue and doesnt do anything to assist in preserving property is unfair to customers who reside in properties. read more

Be extremely wary of leasing with UG, in my experience they are one of the worst, if not THE WORST leasing agencies on campus. My lease with UG officially ended last month and I have nothing good to say about my lease with them. 1. I will reiterate what others have said, while they are kind to you when signing the lease initially, they give little to no consideration for the post-lease signing period. Don't fall for their trickery! 2. Upon move in, the entire apartment was filthy. There was a copious amount of dust, scratches all over the floors, the fridge and cabinets were clearly not cleaned and had some sticky residue built up inside, the stove and oven had not been cleaned either... worst of all, while the unit had plenty of windows, more than half of them couldn't be opened. We cleaned the apartment entirely ourselves as the management didn't respond, and eventually we called to request the cleaning of the blinds (which had been grayed with years of dust built up) and the fixing of the leaking bathroom sink. They hardly cleaned the blinds and the sink remained leaky the entire year. 3. Maintenance: I've unfortunately had to call maintenance for many different causes, most often for the plumbing and heating during the winter. The rudest awakening was returning from winter break to see that someone had come into our apartment and opened several windows and tampered with the fire alarm. Nothing seemed to be missing, and I suspected it was the maintenance as they have previously entered our unit without notice or leaving a note that they had been there. The windows could not be closed and my roommate and I dealt with a few days of freezing cold blasts from the outside, including in our bedroom until the office opened again after the weekend. I called UG and they said to call the cops because "it couldn't have been them"... doubtful. Second worst time was when I came back after a few weeks of being away in the summer and found that the toilet was not flushing, I called maintenance everyday for nearly a week until they came to fix it, imagine not being able to stay in your own apartment because the toilet wasn't functioning for that amount of time. I wasn't about to pay for the plumber as these basic fees are already included in my lease. Finally, third worst was when I awoke to the sound of a plumber who had entered without notice and was tampering with something in our bathroom one morning around 9am. I had neither called them or heard any knocks (I am a very light sleeper). Pretty sure these intrusions are illegal. 4. For the first month of our lease, we were new to apartments and my roommate went to the office and dropped off the check for the next month of rent. The clerk there claimed to review the check and said it was fine. However she had forgotten to sign it and the clerk simply let the rent become overdue as the check was invalid, they didn't contact us to notify this and then charged a late fee of $50. Completely rude and inconsiderate. 5. I finally received my security deposit, only to see that they took nearly $300 for "painting" and over $100 for cleaning. We cleaned our unit thoroughly; it was 10 times better than the state it was in when we moved in. We did nothing to the walls and there should not be a charge for painting, this is not included in the contact. A fine example of campus agencies trying to rip off poor college students. I am waiting to call about this but apparently "their manager is out of the office and they'll call back at their earliest convenience"... yeah right, I will have to visit the office myself sometime to get any money back. Lastly, I would like to advise prospective leasees with UG to rethink signing, even if the unit you're looking at is cheap.. pay a bit more for better service and a better experience. read more

Really really bad expereince. When we moved in (not early move in) the apartment was completely wrecked. There were wires hanging, place was dusty broken furniture everywhere, and my roomates bedroom door was broken, lying on his bed. We called them several times but maintance guy was rude and did not come till almost a week and said he was not responsible for the broken furnitue and was arguing with us about the broken door, Even though we called him about it literally 5 minutes after we picked up our keys. He took another week to come fix it because he was 'busy' with other stuff. The apartment is old badly insulated and run down. Last year we guys had electricity bills of 50 -80 bucks. When we moved in here we got a bill of 220 dollars. The heater is old and consumes a lot of power but barely does any work. There is cold air coming through almost door and window. University group is really shit. People our extremely nice till you sign the lease, and then dont give a dam once you have signed up. read more

I called Meg at university group to ask why we were being charged and when we called they told us we had no charges but would continuously email my roommates that we were getting charged. When I asked why they weren't being straight forward, they would make up charges that they said we were previously cleared on (and blamed it on me). Move out took longer because the elevator wasn't working on move out day and they blamed me for that as well. I called three different times to inquire about this and Meg told me not to call back there again and that they would not speak to me. Then she hung up on me lol. These are the absolute worst people I have ever dealt with, not just with apartments, but in anything. You should just save yourself from Meg's insults and non professionalism and sign somewhere else. And from what I've heard, they've done this to a lot of their residents. read more

POSITIVES: The maintenance man for the building (Bob) is wonderful and takes care of all the needs of the apartment. He get's top marks for service. I only know him because of how many things were wrong with the apartment when we moved in and he was always there fixing things up. He is always working at the complex, I assume because everyone's apartment is falling apart. He is very trustworthy and is eager to teach you the handyman skills if you ask. NEGATIVES: Where do I begin? Despite the best maintenance staff, UG does not put money back into their properties. My place is in dire need of a building inspector, an entire gut, or maybe just a bulldozer. Poor Actions: When I moved in UG left the pilot lights unlit but STILL RUNNING. The gas was leaking into the apartment for days before I moved in. My parents and I could not move my stuff into the apartment because it smelled of gas so bad. I had to call Ameren to come out because I couldn't get a hold of anyone maintenance wise. My apartment was a dump when I moved in. They charge a $100 or more to the renter at the end of the leasing to "clean" the apartment and I can say mine was far from being clean. As soon as we tuned on the AC we found out they had swept all of the dust from the "renovations" that happen every summer into the broken vent. I really should've just called a building inspector upon move in. Poor Structure: -The water heater is from the 70's and needs to be replaced. The furnace is also very outdated. Our gas bill hovers around $200 in the winter; $150 if you keep the apartment at the minimum heat that UG allows in your contract and freeze at night living like a pilgrim. -The basement door WAS NOT EVEN FRAMED OR NAILED TO ANY STRUCTURE. You could push the entire door out about 1 in. Talk about a security issue. Took 2 men working almost all day to pull it all out and reframe the thing. -The paneling in the family room hangs off because of the humidity and poor craftsmanship. -There is mold in the bathroom ceiling -My bedroom wall was brick and had no insulation. On a windy day soot from the bricks would blow through the cracks onto my bed at night. A real treat. I would never lease with them again. It was a nightmare apartment. read more

The apartments that they offer are OK, but maintenance in them is not good at all. The thing that I am most disappointed in is the unprofessional service, and the sneaky (sometimes illegal) charges that they try to put on your bill. TENANTS BEWARE - If you rent with The University Group, make sure you go in monthly and ask for a bill of EXACTLY you are being charged for. I personally have had miscellaneous charges that have been as high as $600 on my bill that was for no reason what-so-ever. I do not recommend renting from U group at all. There are much better apartments, and much better landlords in the Champaign-Urbana area. read more

Worst service and they keep 1/3 of your security deposit at the end of the lease even if you left your apartment immaculate! My son's apartment was filthy when he moved in and the apartment had obviously never been cleaned. After a year of renting my son, wife, and I scrubbed it from top to bottom and it was immaculate. They still kept $233 dollars for "general cleaning" and "carpet cleaning" before reimbursing the rest of the security deposit. My guess is they do this for all unit just to make more money or to cover the lost revenue on their empty units (they have hundreds around campus) as I can't imagine anyone rents from them a second year. Speaking of that, my son has two more years on campus and most assuredly none of his rental dollars will be going to the University group. read more

This is the worst landlord in Champaign Urbana area. DO NOT LIVE with U Group. After moving out, they took all my deposit and charged me addition $850 for painting, trash clean, and others. What they showed me in the bill charged was funny and ridiculous. Another friend of my lived in their apartment for 1 year, they also took all her deposit. read more

This is my third year living in an apartment managed by the University group. The maintenance staff and administrative staff do an excellent job! The response to emails are immediate and maintenance staff are all professionals, they will fix/repair any problem! read more

The worst. We were out of hot water two separate times during our 12 month lease and it took at least five days to get it fixed. The apartment was dirty when we moved in. Just a bad experience all around. Don't rent from them if you have a choice! read more

This review is about security deposit after moving out. One month after I moved out of the property I received a letter asking for money $400! I was expecting $495 refund. They made up very hogh fees like painting and wall repair and carpet cleaning $895!! $345 for painting, 390 general cleaning and $110 for carpet cleaning. I don't know how they came up with that numbers. I am extremely unhappy about this and can't afford to pay this. I guess this is their way of saying that we're not returning your security deposit by asking more and more money. read more

When I went looking for apartments, the employees were very helpful and accomodating to my apartment preferences. Most of the apartments are in okay shape, however, the cheaper ones look like they haven't been updated since the 80's. Overall, I think they are a good bet and the monthly parking fees are pretty reasonable. read more

University Group has the worst reputation in Champaign area. If you get one apartment from them, you will lose all your deposit. Their service is very poor and the staffs are rude. Before you rent a apartment, go to tenantunion website of U of I and read complaint histories of landlords. Do not be fooled by their low price. They try their best to steal your deposit. In fact, you pay more but get less. read more

I love living with the University Group. the girls up front are so warm and inviting. The maintenance team is so quick. ill miss this place when i return home read more

On move in day we discovered that the keys to my sons new apartment did not work. I was afraid that it could take all day to resolve since they were so busy with move ins. We returned to the office and were promptly directed to a maintenance person. He asked that we return to the apartment that someone would come as soon as they could. We returned to the apartment and a maintenance man was already there. He removed the lock and said he would return shortly. The lock was replaced and we had new keys within about 40 minutes from the time we discovered the keys didn't work. They were super efficient! Four stars because the apartment isn't in the best condition. read more

If I could give University Group a zero star rating, I would. This company is run by a bunch of scammers preying off of low income college kids. Over winter break, I come home to find that they had entered my apartment, taken down all my posters, lights, and tapestries and had painted the entire apartment. They moved around furniture and my belongings and did not return it to its original state. No one in my apartment was notified that they would be painting, and to my horror, the cost of painting was taken out of our security deposit! Thank God I am no longer living in a University Group building! Save yourself the headache and the money they will inevitably steal from you a live somewhere else! Cannot stress enough how much I hate this company. read more

The maintenance guys are really friendly and helpful. They come for every small reason and are not bothered at all if you call them a lot. Even though the Gregory Towers are not the most comfortable way of living on campus but they really take care of your own concerns. read more

I lived in a University Group apartment last year. The apartment was old and needed repairs, and was nothing to write home about. The employees are courteous enough, but I would not go so far as to say they were friendly. I always got the feeling that they wanted you out of the office ASAP. Maintenance was certainly a drawback. They were always slow to respond. One Thursday I had a leak develop in my bathroom. It was discharging so much water that I had to wake up every two hours during the night to keep it from flooding the bathroom. When I called maintenance, they said, "Well, we should be able to get someone to look at it on Monday." I also had unannounced visitors at my apartment even though they wrote a 24-hour notice into my lease when I asked them to. At least call ahead or something. Their move-out procedure is also really sketchy. When you move out, there won't actually be anyone to go through your apartment with you because they "don't have enough people." So unless you want to go through your apartment 3-4 weeks before you move out, you just have to hope that they'll be fair about it, which of course they won't be. In summary, you might well be fine with them if you lease with them, but it seems like they're too big for their own good and don't much care about their residents. read more

I have the same horrible experience as the other tenants. We cleaned the apartment better than how we got it. Yet they charged us over $300 in cleaning. They charged us carpet cleaning when we didn't have carpet!! I'm sure they didn't do any of the cleaning that we got nailed for. We filed a report with the attorney general Lisa Madigan. Here is the link http://www.ag.state.il.us/consumers/index.html. Everyone should do the same so we some attention on this matter. I heard they are buying properties left and right. Stay away from University Group. read more

The University Group maintenance staff was great. They were quick to respond to a roof leak issue and cordial in demeanor. However, I cannot say the same for the managing staff. After the first roof leak everything in the apartment was great. Then a week later, a new storm and a new leak. They "fixed" the roof leak again and replaced the bedroom carpet. The managing staff assured me that it would not happen again and that the maintenance staff was doing everything they could to fix the problem. A week later, the exact same roof leak during weekend midnight rainstorm. Tried calling the maintenance number and someone told me they would come out to fix the problem ASAP. No one came. I was pretty fed up at this point so I called the city monday morning to come and inspect the apartment for mold and any other violations. Right after the city inspection, I get an email that this property changed hands to a new property management company. So I'm sitting there with 1/4" water in my living room and no one to call because I didn't know who to call. So I finally put two and two together and realized that University Group was trying to fill/rent as many apartments as they could before handing this property over to another management company (which is why I got a slightly cheaper rate). Any extra maintenance/repairs (that would have fixed my roof) would have cost too much so they essentially stonewalled me until they could divest the property. I would throw in a few expletives here because of how much sleep and time I lost during that one month, but I'm guessing that is frowned upon. Truly disappointing experience that caused me to expect the worst in property managers. I hope this company loses what business they still have. read more

NEVER RENT THEIR APARTMENT! They do not care tenants at ALL. It's suffering living in their apartment year round.

Horrible apartments and management. Lived in 309 N busey and regretted every single day. First they gave trashy apartment without cleaning. Second they do not agree that it is dirty. And finally when you move out, they deduct 230 dollars for cleaning. While I spent 2 days on cleaning it when moved out. I could challenge them to show even little sign of dirt. These realtors act like dictators. I moved 3 miles away from the school and am super happy with current management. read more

Maintenance is TERRIBLE! It takes a good month-2 months for them to even get back to you. The leasing manager is terribly rude and the staff is clueless!!!! There's one male employee who works in the office who ALWAYS reeks of beer. AVOID! AVOID!! read more

They are the most incomeptent group of people i Have ever met. The apartment was in shoddy condition when I moved in...i had to go out and buy a steamer to clean the couch and mattress because they refused to replace it..i cleaned the whole place before and after...but they took out over 300 dollar from my deposit of 400. They tried intimidating me when I tried asking for invoices....i got mugged at their place..i went into my apartment to get away and the guy had no problem getting into the apartment building because the doors and locks dont work! and when i told them what happened.......well lets just say the door is still not fixed!!! and they are completely non chalant about and could care less. they are a buncha arragant ignorant people, who can do nothing more than steal ur money and laugh at u because u r stupid enough to fall for it....thats not an exaggeration that is exactly what they did when i asked them questions read more