BMI Management

After having just moved out of one of BMI’s apartments in Champaign, I can safely say I’d never rent from them again.
The one and only reason this company has any positive reputation is because of their maintenance guy, Gary. Stand up guy who works hard to keep tenants happy.
I’d recommend renting from BMI if you:
1) Don’t mind being pressured into signing a lease for the following year after having just moved into your new place. If you don’t sign a new lease within 5 weeks of just moving in, they start showing your apartment for the following year. This is an especially nice feature when it’s never mentioned prior to signing on with them in the first place.
2) Leave your apartment cleaner than when you moved in and don’t mind paying them $ 75 for it. I just got part of my security deposit back from them today. I was charged $ 35 for «minor dusting and window cleaning in the entire apartment.» I thought this was a bit odd because I had to clean those very things when I moved in.
I was charged another $ 40 for «1hrs touchup paint in bedroom and living room.» To my knowledge, most apartments are supposed to be repainted when a new tenant moves in unless they request otherwise. I spackled the few small holes in the walls from hanging pictures and sanded them down.
With the many other choices in this town, there’s no reason to go through this company.
I’d give less than 1 star if it was an option.

Since asking about the security deposit refund, they have stopped responding to my emails or returning my calls. Very unprofessional conduct for a company. If they had at least kept channels of communication open, I would not have to lower their star rating further. I have filed a complaint at the Tenant Union in an attempt to recover my deposit. As I said in my original review, they charged us for a broken window, even though it was noted on the move-​in sheet as broken and we have pictures proving it was broken when we moved in.
Update:
The case was moved to Student Legal Services. Having to go this far to recover a security deposit is completely unacceptable. I highly recommend you AVOID this company, ESPECIALLY if you are a senior or leaving the area afterwards. It is possible they tried to charge us for fixing damage we didn’t cause because our forwarding addresses were all out-​of-​state and they assumed we would be unable to get help from the Tenant Union or Student Legal services.