JSM Living — Local services in Champaign

If you go to the Tenant Union and look up the complaint records for JSM, they will tell you point blank that this management has a clause in their contract that waives your right to quiet enjoyment in your apartment: Meaning they can come in at any time & completely reconstruct your unit without your permission. Construction workers will tear your place apart from 6am in the morning to 5pm, forcing you to live somewhere else while you continue paying rent to them. They are the only property management company in the Urbana-Champaign campus area that does this. If for whatever reason, people are still crazy enough to sign a lease with JSM, please take the time to review some of their business practices.

I lived at 406 E. Stoughton one bedroom apartment under a different realtor (a building with a long history of serious bed bug infestation). JSM bought the property while my lease with the old landlord was still active. They wanted to remodel the units into two-bed units and raise the rent for the next year, but because my lease with the old landlord prevented them from doing any superfluous construction inside our units, they used pressure tactics to force tenants to move out. (This didn't stop them from doing noisy,disruptive, construction on other units around me though). One of the managers, Emily Murphy, ignored major maintenance requests, my emails and calls for months, among many other displays of misconduct, forcing me to contact the city inspector. The city cited 19 code violations against JSM in my unit alone. Long story short, to avoid paying fines for the code violations, JSM tried to force me out by lying that I did not comply with bed bug treatments. Then they lied that the tenant below me told them I spread bed bugs to his apartment, even though that tenant (who was actually my friend) denied this and I complied with bed bug prep instructions (with photo evidence, verified by the Tenant Union). In addition to this, the building has a LONG, recurring issue with bed bugs.Thankfully, through Student Legal Services' intervention, I received a monetary settlement and was able to move the heck out. By the time I moved out, there were only 2 tenants left out of the 12 tenants that were originally in the building.

I write this review to share my experience and also as a warning, because JSM has done this same exact thing to many of their tenants. They only care about making money and will infringe upon your rights to do so. The only good thing I can say is that maintenance staff is usually quick and friendly for minor issues. I encourage all prospective renters to be diligent in their research. There's no reason to sign with a company that puts language in their lease that waive your rights as a tenant. Sign your lease with ANYONE but JSM.

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The response from JSM is as dishonest as it is disappointing. The "renovations" were not to abate the code violations, but actually remodel the units - convert the one bedrooms into two bedrooms and raise the rent. (aka superfluous construction).I have advertisements for Spring 2016 from JSM's website to prove it. I also have an email from JSM regarding a major issue with my window where they admitted they weren't going to conduct needed repair at that time since they had plans to eventually remodel my unit. That same window issue was cited as a code violation months later. I also recognize some of these positive reviewers as people who work for your company & will be reporting them accordingly. I cannot stress enough that the Tenant Union has warned of this issue with JSM and that there are better leasing companies to...

I arrived on move in day at my new abode a wide-eyed college sophomore, eager to experience life in my first ever apartment. How exciting! A beautiful view, a prime location, and enough amenities to keep even the more privileged persons completely satisfied with his living arrangement. Sophomore year was bound to be fantastic.

It is now day 157 of my imprisonment. I lost consistent WiFi connectivity on day 3. After the first WiFi dropped, I shrugged and thought it would be back up within the hour. I tried to stream LOST on Netflix in my bedroom, but my Xbox's core overheated after trying to load the video for 3 hours and exploded shortly after, launching my desk into my door and creating a barricade that has locked me in my room for months now. I maintained contact with my roommate through morse code on the wall separating our rooms up until day 67. I fear he has been killed. I deciphered his last message as, "just found a one-bar connection, going to try to stream the first episode of 'Friends' on my PS4". There is no way his PS4 could've sustained that kind of trauma, and the explosion I heard shortly after receiving his last message leads me to believe he is gone. Each day has become a struggle for survival. At some point, I wake up. Immediately, I begin my day's search for WiFi connectivity. If I'm lucky, I can find a one-bar connection and attempt to send a message to my family, letting them know I am still alive, but I have been met with a, "Message could not be sent" after the WiFi quickly drops out every single time. I have survived by slowly consuming my mattress and have dug a hole in the ceiling for water with a pair of sunglasses. I spent my Christmas day determining whether or not the leftover paperclips I found in my desk on day 82 were a viable source of nutrition. Alas, they were not. I don't know how much longer I can do this. I typed this message in the event that I find a WiFi connection that lasts more than 12 seconds. If you are reading this, please help me. Please tell my family that I love them. Please tell them that I'm fighting. Please tell them that I'm alive. Please, PLEASE JSM or Pavlov Media, FIX YOUR...

I have had enough of this company. I was forced against my will to have my lease with them because they bought my building from Roland (whom I had been living with for 3 years). Now I have to deal with all of the nonsense that comes with their company. For the sake of this review I'll only mention one of the many horrible things that I've had to go through.

I had been waiting for a package to come in the mail for about a week. I called jsm asking why the mailman has not been stopping by. They said that they changed the key and that they had yet to give it to them. I waited another week and called, this lady tells me that the key was picked up earlier this week if not Friday of the last week. I said ok, I will wait. Today, I call them again saying 4 days ago, they said the key was given, but the mailman has yet to grace this apartment. The guy says that the key is in front of him, the mailman has not picked it up. I asked him when he thought it would be picked up and he replied "this is the first time I'm even hearing about this".

The funniest part is that we get emails explaining the banging and thrashing that happens in the morning at 7 am, but we don't get the decency of knowing that our mail and packages are being held at the post office for two whole weeks or more???

Previous experiences: If I want to add more about my experience of when I lived with my boyfriend at JSM the year before, there was a cockroach problem (starting from the move in date) that wouldn't be solved until everyone threatened them with calls to the health department. We were charged for the RENOVATIONS that were made after we moved out.

I would never in a million years sign with this company, and now I am forced to live with them even though I signed with...