By Roxy Osborne

Students living at The Province have reported uncomfortable living conditions as the apartment complex switched ownership from American Campus Communities Inc. to Greystar Real Estate Partners. Tenants were informed of the switch via email on Aug. 19.

Unsanitary living conditions, inconsistent communication and a broken rent payment portal have left tenants frustrated with both companies over the rocky transition.

Previous company mishaps

Greystar is no stranger to controversy. The landlord behemoth reached an agreement with the Department of Justice over their utilization of RealPage, a software that aims to maximize landlord profits using algorithmic pricing schemes. The software required Greystar to share sensitive competitive data with other landlords to maximize its efficiency.

Locally, Greystar recently gained notoriety for its management takeover of Trifecta Apartments. WDRB reported student complaints of unsanitary living conditions and broken AC units during 100-degree weather.

Other than a class action lawsuit in Missouri, American Campus Communities has faced significantly less negative press. The lawsuit claimed ACC overcharged for an 11.5-month lease. Tenants said they paid full rent for half a month of residence. The case was settled in 2018.

What students say

Students who live at The Province were largely frustrated with the transition from ACC to Greystar. One common complaint is the unsatisfactory move-in experience under ACC.

U of L student Sophia Pratte lamented on her move-in day.

“The Province never flipped the apartment. When I walked in, it was disgusting. My mom had to clean out the fridge and there was a moldy, green hot dog in there.”

Trey Stevenson, a junior at the university, also noted the uncleanliness at move-in.

“Nothing was really clean,” Stevenson said. “I think that [ACC’s] cleaning crew was really poor.”

Pratte said Greystar’s take over did not improve the cleanliness.

“We still have a fly problem, and we’ve been living here for three weeks now,” she said. ‘They’re everywhere. My carpet also has cat scratches all over it.”

Greystar utilizes an online resident portal for tenants to pay rent and put in maintenance requests. The transition from ACC’s portal to Greystar’s took place between late August and early September. Residents of The Province were forced to wait in limbo until they could pay their rent, which is usually due on the first of every month.

“They didn’t even give us a warning,” said Pratte. “[Greystar] just said, ‘resident portals down, new management.’ Just a frustrating experience.”

Greystar assured tenants that they would not have to pay any late fees caused by the portal switch over.

Another common issue with ACC was confusion over room assignments.

“The Province made it seem like I would be with two people I asked to be with, so how come whenever assignments came out, I was with two people I had never met before in my life? It was a safety concern, in my opinion,” said Pratte.

Stevenson had an equally frustrating experience after his initial move-in.

“I was moved from the first floor of one apartment building to the third floor of a whole other building one day before classes started,” he said. “I demanded that [ACC] send someone over to help me. It was so hot outside and I was told I needed to move immediately.”

He also disapproved of Greystar’s lack of telephone communication.

“Their communication directly could be better. They seem like they’re doing alright with emails, but they won’t actually talk to you,” said Stevenson.

Greystar responds

Greystar sent out an email to tenants on Sept. 5 stating the following:

While we recently took over management, we understand that move-in didn’t go smoothly for many of you. We’ve listened closely to your concerns, and we want to acknowledge the frustrations you’ve experienced — even though they occurred before our time here, they still matter to us.

The Province released the following statement to The Louisville Cardinal in response to the controversy:

The current ownership and management staff at The Province took over on Aug. 19, which is after the Aug. 15 move-in date. Roommate assignments and preparing apartments for move-in were the responsibility of previous ownership and staff. We also inherited a large backlog of maintenance requests not fulfilled by previous ownership.
We are addressing maintenance requests as quickly as possible, with the most urgent repairs taking highest priority. We have added staff to help accomplish this. We thank residents for their patience and apologize for the delays. We have been in constant communication with residents and will continue to regularly update residents.

A list of Kentucky’s tenant landlord laws can be accessed through the American Apartment Association Website. Louisville’s website on tenant resources can also be found on the metro government website.

Photo by Roxy Osborne / The Louisville Cardinal