Lancaster Apartments, champaign-il

Management here sucks. First of all, they charge you for “trash services” that are supposed to take out your trash but they literally don’t. Also, expect at least $50 on your bill every month for random, unexplained fees. And if you want to contact management, the entire office is fully run by students who have no idea how to answer your questions. I don’t even know the landlords name. They also had the great idea to get rid of the keys and switch to AN APP to open your door. I had a fully broken phone for a while and literally couldn’t get into my own apartment, and if I tried contacting Lancaster they weren’t helpful or accommodating at all. Recently they charged us $60 for a new website that THEY wanted to use. $60 for a website I didn’t even ask for. They only respond to good messages on their app too, if you have a complaint don’t expect a response. This place is pretty much $50 fees one after the other. Yeah the apartment is nice but I wouldn’t recommend it. However, maintenance is quick and usually shows up within a few hours and fixes whatever you need.

Nice because nobody was ever there, but management sucks! We had a moldy shower and were charged for the cleaning even though we called about it while living there. ALSO they said our utilities would be $40-60 split but we ended up paying OVER $100 each a few times, (which is more than all of our families homes electric bill) and one of the times was for a month NONE of us were there. Genuinely do not live here.

Do not rent from this company. Rented for 2 years. Overage charges for utilities almost monthly. Complained about the thermostat multiple times. Would not look at it and then CHARGED us to replace it AFTER move out! Charged $880 for painting and cleaning...again after living there for 2 years. Should be standard cost of business to have to clean and paint after long term residents move out. If you choose to rent here, don't expect to get much (or any) of your deposit back!!

1) Things are constantly breaking. Our refrigerator broke within the first week and maintenance didn't help till our food defrosted almost a day later, and left us with a rusted, disgustingly dirty old 'temporary' fridge that we had to clean ourselves. Maintenance was "waiting for new parts" for our original fridge for over a month during which time it was parked right outside our front door on the patio(where it still sits now a semester later). We have had maintenance people come in to "refinish" our showers twice because they were leaking, and all they did was put more silicone on the corners, and sloppily smear some material on the shower floor to give it a new finish. Some faucets leak, and/or are broken. The front door doesn't close all the way unless you slam it hard; sucks to have cold drafts in the winter and pay for extra heating. The key fobs sometimes don't work to open the outside doors and you have to force the door open. The door also closes way too strongly and you hear it slam shut whenever someone uses it. They've compensated for some issues by apologizing with a note on the door and giving out visa gift cards. 2) Windows are cheap and bad at Insulating, so heating costs a fortune. Its pretty cold today (1/30/19) and our AC can't even produce enough heat to compensate. It's set to 70, but can't get above 62. 3) Upkeep is not good. The finish is chipped on a lot of cabinets, and you can see where they tried to patch old holes/chips on the walls and floor. The floors are scratched/have paint spots in some parts. Mattresses are comfortable, but leave mysterious 1-in clear fibers all over the place (hopefully not fiber glass but that's what it looks like). 4) The office is run by students and there's rarely someone available to take calls. 5) They don't send out emails or calls to inform you of things, and instead tape paper notes to the door or elsewhere around the building you may/may not see. for $725 a month not including the extra electricity it costs to run this place (usually around $20 each a month), I expected more.

My roommates and I were struggling to find an apartment to live in this year, and we luckily came across Lancaster! It came with everything we wanted: a washer and dryer in unit, a TV, and modern finishes at a reasonable price. They also have a great maintenance staff that comes to fix whatever needed in a timely manner. There's a lobby where you can chill and make coffee, and the staff is really nice and provides us with snacks and treats during finals and holidays. There's a rooftop that's great to hangout on when the weather's nice, and every apartment comes with their own balcony with a pretty view of campus. I like how secure the building is as well. It’s a great location near Green Street and multiple bus stops, and it is not a far walking distance from the quad. It’s difficult to find an apartment that has all these qualities, and I’m glad to have lived here this year!