BSURentals under fire after tenants complain about living conditions in Muncie

WRTV's Meredith Hackler talks with several renters in Muncie who are fed up with the property management company BSURentals.

By: Meredith Hackler

MUNCIE — Several renters spread out all over the college town of Muncie are fed up with the property management company BSURentals.

They are claiming when they went to move in that the properties were dirty. Current tenants are saying when they put in maintenance requests they are never completed and staff is rude.

All of these complaints came to the surface after a social media post on Facebook.

The girlfriend of Brice Diekhoff, a Ball State student, posted photos of the property he was supposed to move into.

"The first thing I see automatically is just trash like bits of trash all over the living room floor,” Ball State Student Brice Diekhoff said. “I see two abandoned drinks in the living room also, so I was just kind of in shock I was like is this like a prank or something."

That Facebook post has close to 1,000 shares.

The main reason for them is because there is a whole Facebook group dedicated to BSURental complaints.

That group has close to 700 members.

It’s filled with both past and present tenants who have shared bad experiences renting from the company.

It was created Melissa Bass. She made the group after she says her renting experience with BSURental’s was poor.

"It's just asking for them to be held accountable,” Melissa Bass said. “We want them to be held accountable for the bogus fees and rents, and the maintenance problems. The list is horrendous of their violations against the community. “

Aleah Weekley is one of those people who has had issues with BSURentals and is a member of the Facebook group.

She says when she first moved into her rental home her son was electrocuted due to a faulty dryer.

Outside of her dryer not being properly installed, she’s also asked for other things to be fixed in her apartment that never have been. Which she finds frustrating, especially since she pays $1,285 a month for her three-bedroom one bath home.

"We get charged a redecoration fee before we move in its nonrefundable it's $600dollars depending on what property you’re at ours was $600 for them to clean the place,” Aleah Weekley, a tenant with BRURentals said. “Now if the person who rented before me got charged that same redecoration fee why wasn't it clean before I moved in?”

We tried talking to the company, but they wouldn't do an on-camera interview. Instead, they sent us the following statement.

BSURentals is currently conducting the largest amount of student move-ins in the company’s history with 400 move-ins within the last two weeks. Over half of these move-ins occurred yesterday on August 15.

Due to the large volume of move-ins, we depend on outside vendors in addition to our internal staff to complete the work needed to prepare these properties. Unfortunately, some of these vendors did not complete the work as communicated. We continue to work with our residents to resolve any of these issues. We are still in an economic environment of labor and material shortages, but we are constantly working to improve. We apologize for the inconvenience and frustration that may have been caused due to some of these units not meeting BSURentals’ standards.

In regard to the residents of 1122 W Rex, we have worked diligently with them to fix the issues at the property once we were made aware of them. We offered these residents a hotel stay until their unit was ready, which they declined. We are refunding their Redecoration Fee and prorating their rent for the time they’ve been unable to inhabit the property. We have been in constant contact with these residents and continue to work with them to resolve any remaining issues. All initial concerns are being addressed by the end of the day today. To clarify, our Redecoration Fee does not cover cleaning costs before move in. It covers nominal wear and tear to the unit upon move out. This is stated within our lease.

BSURentals is a family owned and operated 3rd party property management company. We are owned by two Ball State University graduates. We are a top 25 employer in Muncie with a team of over 100 employees, many of which are also Ball State graduates. Our team works tirelessly to provide our residents with satisfactory customer service and maintenance. We are also a leading investor in the Muncie community, with over $20 million invested into the city through numerous revitalization and renovation projects. We work with property owners, vendors, and contractors to help execute and improve the communities that we operate in.

We invite any residents with outstanding issues or concerns to contact our Resident Services office by calling 765-289-7618 option 2, or by emailing residentservices@middletownpg.com. Our team is available to answer residents’ concerns Mon – Sat 10am to 6pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. We also have an emergency line available for after-hours emergencies at 765-587- 0280.

BSURentals