The Monroe Apartments — Attraction in Bloomington

Avoid The Monroe at All Costs Living at The Monroe has been a frustrating experience. Since moving in, my roommates and I have dealt with recurring maintenance and health issues, such as black mold, pest infestations, water damage, and broken appliances. Despite repeated requests for help, management has provided only temporary fixes and continues to ignore or dismiss our concerns. Our apartment was filthy upon move-in. My mattress was stained, dirty dishes were left in the dishwasher, and there was visible gum stuck to the desk, showing it was never cleaned, despite the mandatory move-out cleaning fee they charge. The bathroom floor was cracked, and the door was damaged from water exposure and wouldn’t even close. Mold has regrown in the bathroom multiple times, even after maintenance “fixed” it. The dishwasher was full of standing water and dirty dishes from previous tenants upon move-in. Eventually, it started leaking brown water and grew mushrooms. Despite reporting this, maintenance has only removed the mushrooms without checking for deeper water damage. There are also cockroaches and water damage inside our kitchen cabinets. The plumbing is unreliable. We were told to leave faucets dripping in the winter when we left for break. After returning from Thanksgiving break, we discovered the tub was gushing water, flooding the bathroom. The Monroe fails to communicate serious safety threats. A peeping tom was reported lurking around our building, specifically near our apartment, yet The Monroe never alerted residents. I only learned about this incident after police were called and posters were distributed. Not by the Monroe, but by other concerned tenants. As a group of sophomore women in college, this lack of transparency is unacceptable and dangerous. The only message The Monroe sent regarding the situation was sent after the police had been called and was only an announcement to watch your surroundings, nothing about a strange man looking through windows. In addition to health and safety hazards, the management's behavior is consistently unprofessional. They often respond rudely to residents and are known to argue on public review platforms instead of taking accountability. We were recently hit with a $644.66 charge split among roommates for allegedly flooding the unit below us by washing a comforter, which none of us did. No proof or explanation was given, and when we called to dispute the charge, they hung up on us without providing any explanation. The issue of the charge was sent in April, however they have not responded to our emails or calls and only chose late June to respond, but only with a charge. They have continued to refuse to send us evidence, despite us saying we would pay the charge if shown proof that we caused the damage. There is no water damage in our laundry room that would show that we misused the appliance. The documentation they have provided also shows several inconsistencies, including the invoice stating that our fee should only be $434.66, not $644.66. Also in the invoice, the invoice notes that the damage came from the unit next door, not upstairs. We are the upstairs neighbor, not the neighbor next to the unit that had the damage. To make matters worse, they are refusing to acknowledge my renter's insurance or updated forwarding address, despite multiple calls and correctly submitted forms. Many of the reviews for The Monroe come from those taking tours, not from actual residents. The apartment they show during the tours is not the one future residents will be renting. Some of the reviews come from those not renting here at The Monroe. It’s clear The Monroe prioritizes profit over resident’s safety. They offer temporary solutions, mislead prospective tenants with staged tour units, and routinely impose unfair charges without documentation. Do not live here. This property is a health hazard, and the management is negligent at best and hostile at worst. You’ll end up paying far more than...

The only reason I’m giving it one star is because the utilities and rent were together (only cheap cause you live with a bunch of people) and the area it was is pretty safe. If you’re looking for a place to stay as a college student or even anyone in general and you choose the Monroe-be prepared for the headaches and aggravation. I’ve organized my reasoning below!

The lack of action. When I first moved into the monroe the VERY NIGHT I moved in one my my new roommates (I didn’t know her) had a manic episode. I called and emailed the Monroe several times about dealing with the situation and have several emails to prove that they don’t email you back. I stayed in that situation for about a month along with my other two roommates (4 bed 2 bath) where we tiptoed around and had to hide the knives in our rooms. THE KNIVES. I feared for my safety and it took them a month to get around to “seeing if any rooms are available to transfer.” On top of that, they gave us only 24 hours to switch apartments and then tried to charge a vacuuming fee and a dust fee in my room. Not even in the contract btw so make sure you remember to clean it spotless when you leave! (Carpet fee is still inevitable $65)

Staff. Umm okay this is my biggest issue with the place by far!!! Not only are the managers never in but they also only do things by appointment which you have to set up through email! (I’ll get to the emailing situation next) Practically everyone who answers the phone (not gonna call out but you’ll come to remember them) meets you with a terrible attitude, no answers to questions, and has TERRIBLE customer service skills. I’ve been told I would be called back at least 7 TIMES HERE and they never do. I’ve also been HUNG UP on and this happened a week ago! If you ever need anything done over the phone, I recommend asking to stay on the phone with them because let me tell you when I say these people will not get anything done for you. I know it’s harsh but it’s my experience.

Emails. Don’t. Unless it’s about money or signing up for an apartment they don’t email you back. I have tons of emails they never replied to and I’ve also asked them to email me stuff, which never happened. So when it comes to emailing-they lack it greatly.

The package room/gate. Yeah don’t buy anything expensive living here because it has high chances to get stolen. Also if you’re expecting a 24-7 open gate service-don’t! Apparently their gate broke and they “sent out an email in 2020” that it would only be open when the office would open. Since I had subleased in November it had been working so I never knew of it breaking and I never got an email. A little helpful advice? Update your residents if the gate breaks again -each time it’s broken and fixed- because some people weren’t here for the first email. Thought it’d be common sense? I personally had a medical contact split in my eye and it was fine because my package was in the room but when I went to go get it, the gate was locked. Going around blind in one eye for the rest of the day was a MAJOR headache physically and mentally.

Charges. They will charge you for anything and everything if they can. Drain clogs? Charge. Light blows/lighting is weird? Charge. Door is broken from age or something? Charge. Didn’t dust your ceiling fan when you left? Charge. Didn’t wipe a finger print mark off of the glass when you left? Charge. Also the apartments are pretty friggin expensive if you actually think about it. 434 a month to live with three other people? Or 600-700 for a two bedroom? Just go somewhere else and save yourself a headache because the office makes this place sooooooo...

Apartments are reasonable but management is so inept that it isn't worth the hassle of living in this trash residency. There are many other similarly priced apartments nearby if you want to live on this side of town.

Here is a current list of things that have happened while living here:

Safety: The Monroe has a complete disregard for the safety of its residents. For example, on our first day, drunk woman broke into our apartment complex because the locks on our doors didn't work. We made a maintenance request to which they never got back to us and we ended up needing to hire an outside source to fix the lock for us.

Multiple times our carbon monoxide alarm went off at night, but guess what--the 24/7 emergency line they have set up actually doesn't have anyone monitoring it. So we just had to listen to the alarm go off for hours because it was 3am and no one could be gotten ahold of. This also happened with fire alarms, etc.

Apartment quality: The layout of the apartments legitimately makes no sense. Floor space is organized in a way to which the most important elements (living room, kitchen, and bedrooms) are spacious, but in areas that make no sense from a practical standpoint. Sorta big kitchen with 2 square feet of counter space to prep food.

There are holes in the walls, poorly supported shelves which collapsed after placing towels on them, our toilet bowl constantly snaps off, the shower is permanently stained from the grime of a past resident which no amount of bleach was able to remove. The actual unit we received was also MUCH lower quality than the one which was shown to us.

Noise: There are constant parties in the complex which shake the rooms at night. This also means there is a steady stream of strangers in the complex walking by our doors (which as previously mentioned sometimes don't lock).

Management: Not one person in our 4 bed apartment missed a payment or not responded to any form of inquiry by management. In total we received about 20 eviction notices all together because management would add utility fees after rent was posted. For example, I payed my rent on the 1st when it was due. On the 3rd, they added a 10 cent utility overage fee and were unable to accept my $500 payment because the total was now $500.10 Reminder, they did this 3 days after rent was due... This happened every month, The only way we found to get around it was overpaying rent every month by about $5.

If you receive mail, too bad. :) the package room is connected through the pool. But they would lock the entrance to the pool so it isn't possible to get your mail unless you go between 9-5. So if you have a day job I'd recommend canceling your amazon prime subscription.

Another fun story-- they lost the paperwork for my dog at one point after I had brought in her vaccination records and emotional support animal paperwork and was given the ok to bring her in. Randomly one day I received an email telling me I needed to evacuate my dog from the premises or I would be evicted.

This has just scraped the surface of how disappointing this place is. I haven't even covered a tenth of the shenanigans that have occurred.

Positives: The staff is very nice when you actually manage to get in contact with them. The management is also willing to listen when you get in contact, but the fundamental structure of how they operate is so bad that there are constant miscommunications. Covid has also made this worse because we are no longer able to meet in person as easily.

The maintenance workers are...