American Campus Communities

I am being charged for a month of rent, even though I was not living there at the time. My keys were turned in, and I paid the break lease fee, and gave them my 30 day notice. Although, they lost that information and claimed that I gave my 30 day notice a month later. Therefore, charging me for an extra 30 days of rent.

The Cottages of Durham (NH) is managed by the Americans Campus Communities. The thermostat has some problems. I have reported many times. Almost one month they did not fix it or replace it by a new one. The temperature of the evening in New Hampshire is very low. My housemates and I had to suffer the cold night. When I asked them, they said the new thermostat has not been arrived. That means we need to go on suffer the low temperature.

I moved to UP in 2014 after two years in PSU dorms, tempted by the call of a private bedroom, oven, and dishwasher. The trouble began before I even moved in: the UP website advertised that animals were allowed; when I signed the lease I was told otherwise.
I was forced to move in and to find an alternate place for my therapy animal to stay for several weeks. It was only after I 1) called the corporate office and 2) reminded them of their responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act was the issue resolved.
The building is constantly dirty. The stairwell, which you'll use often (the elevators break a lot - yikes), was always filthy. Trash, spills, used condoms, the list goes on. To add insult to injury, people began peeing near the stairwell exit door (right under the security camera!) It was always left to evaporate, despite being reported multiple times. Once, a broken bottle and a trail of blood appeared, and even though this HEALTH HAZARD was reported to staff, it was never cleaned up.
The hallways were also dirty, with trash, vomit, spills etc. being left for weeks at a time. Sometimes, the CAs (student workers) were made to clean up vomit. This is illegal, since they weren’t given hazmat training.
The units themselves are very cheaply constructed. The inner walls (e.g. inside a multi-bedroom unit) do not reach the ceiling. You can hear your roommates going about their lives, and at night you can see if their light is still on. You’ll need a white noise machine. The appliances were cheap and often broke despite gentle use. I could frequently hear parties above/below/around us - sometimes so loud that earplugs didn't even help.
And you can’t just report parties. Good luck finding the on-call number and getting someone to pick up, let alone do anything. The night staff were supposed to patrol the hallways and stairs at night and shut down noise problems - they didn't. Once parties were reported, they MIGHT get quieter for a bit, but that never lasted.
I was always lucky with roommates. However, I know many people who did have problems with roommates being filthy/smoking/being rude/stealing/etc. The staff claim to be powerless to help. I'm not sure if it's powerlessness, or unwillingness to do anything. Good luck getting your roommates evicted for lease violations or switching to a different unit.
The staff can be described as following: disorganized, not knowledgeable, inconsistent, and sometimes rude.
So, when I had just about had enough of my awful tenancy, I asked 4 separate staff how to break the lease. Answer: 30-days notice, submit a form, 1.5*rent lease-break fee. So I turned in my notice, form, and fee.
A week later, I got an email from a leasing assistant. Here's a direct quote: "Please note that you will be held financially responsible for your lease until a new tenant moves in. At that time we will send you a statement."
[Record scratch noises] What? Financially responsible? Nope. Not according to Oregon Statute 90.302. Go ahead, google it. A landlord can hit you with a 1.5x rent fee, OR have you pay rent until a new tenant moves in. Not both.
So I got a lawyer. And I let UP know. My lawyer had represented UP tenants numerous times before, and described UP as “predatory.”
So what are the things you should take away from this? 1) DO NOT MOVE TO UNIVERSITY POINTE if you have the choice. Live in PSU housing instead, if you want to live on campus. Same composition of residents (students), totally different experience (clean, relatively quiet, good management) - clearly the issues are because of inept UP management. 2) READ YOUR LEASE. 3) Record interactions with UP staff in writing to protect yourself. 4) Know your rights as a tenant in Oregon. 5) If you need a tenant law lawyer, contact the Oregon Bar for a referral. 6) If you have issues with UP similar to mine, let the PSU Dean of Student Life Office know. They are investigating the building.
TL;DR: No, I do not recommend living here.