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March 2025 by J E.
I rented with Royse and Brinkmeyer for over five years, across two properties.
What went well: Maintenance requests were handled efficiently compared to other similarly sized rental companies in the area; I didn’t have any issues with the security deposit.
What needs improvement: A year or so into my stay at Stonegate, someone in the courtyard fired a gun into a first floor apartment. While I lived there, only a few places on the property had cameras. I was thankful to live on the second floor after the incident but installed a secondary buzzer/alarm on my door. I am glad I did - twice during my time at the property, a homeless person was able to enter the building and sleep in the laundry room. This really cast doubt as to how functional the “secured entrances” are. My building continually had an issue with someone propping the door open. R&B sent emails to remind folks to close doors numerous times - these emails were not effective. This reaffirms that multiple controls are needed to ensure safety/security if equipment fails or can be easily overridden. The area around Stonegate continues to change, unfortunately for the worse. It’ll be important that R&B adapts if they want tenants to feel safe.
In October of 2023, I came home to discover roaches in my apartment. R&B severely miscommunicated about the process and fees to eliminate the roaches: I was initially told by the community manager that I would only be changed for pest control services if it was determined that I was the source of the infestation. Despite this, R&B assessed a $150 charge with the reasoning that pest control had seen a live roach during an inspection. The community manager informed me I could expect a refund if it was determined that another tenant was the source of the roaches.
This was incredibly frustrating and distressing. I ended up contacting the pest control company directly to keep up-to-date and ask questions. I also contacted the CU Tenants Union for extra help - this was critical. When I finally got the news that another tenant was the source (which was communicated by pest control before the leasing company), I contacted R&B about a refund. I’m not sure what would have happened had I not contacted the Tenants Union. R&B had relayed in late January that they could “look into” a refund. The verbiage made me uneasy but I waited - a little over a month went by and I did not receive a refund. In March, the $150 was refunded after I reached out to the Tenants Union and they contacted R&B’s CEO.
Throughout this whole experience, It felt like the ball was continually dropped and management was dragging their feet. The miscommunications and delay in issuing the refund gave me the impression R&B did not care to be accurate so long as the $150 was assessed to someone. Tenants will be encouraged to stay silent as conditions deteriorate and fester if this approach is not adjusted.
R&B needs to get better at acting quickly - eradicating pests requires timely and steadfast intervention. They need to ensure they maintain consistent communication with all tenants throughout an infestation
All things considered: I couldn’t find value at $1k+ a month. Hiring someone to paint my walls or perform concierge services can’t replace the trust that is broken when I have roaches or need to triple check that my door is locked.
I came to view my lease at Stonegate regretfully. And that is truly disappointing - R&B handled many things well that other leasing agencies in C-U demonstrably fail at. They are even renovating the property. But Stonegate Village was a complete turn off. It showed me they don’t have the bandwidth to tackle security gaps or pest infestations, both of which can occur at any property regardless of age/
location.
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February 2025 by Lilli Shields
Have been renting for a year now and just renewed my lease. Beautiful apartment building in a quiet neighborhood. All of my neighbors are wonderful and very friendly. The staff here is very accommodating and helped me get this apartment very quickly. One thing to note is that the smoke alarms are sensitive due to a lack of windows/airflow in the kitchen, but it is not a huge issue!
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December 2024 by Xuan Liu
I moved into a Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments property in September 2024 and have been dealing with a severe mouse infestation since day one. Despite repeated reports and providing extensive evidence, management has failed to take any meaningful action to address the issue. The infestation has made my apartment uninhabitable, posing serious health risks and creating unbearable living conditions.
The lack of responsiveness and care from management is unacceptable and a clear violation of tenant rights. If you value cleanliness, safety, and professional property management, I strongly recommend avoiding this property.
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October 2024 by Timothy Kloss
Subject: Unauthorized Entry and Deposit Dispute
I am writing to express my concerns regarding unauthorized entries into my apartment, despite my explicit requests for prior notification. My apartment was entered multiple times without my consent, even after I provided clear instructions that I must be notified before any access. I also communicated with the property manager, who informed me that the option to be present during maintenance, available on the maintenance portal, does not function as expected. As a result, I was effectively told that my apartment could be accessed without my knowledge, regardless of my preferences.
On one occasion, individuals entered my apartment without any maintenance request submitted by me. I have security footage capturing this incident, which I promptly reported to Royse. The video clearly shows employees searching my apartment, and I still retain this footage.
Additionally, upon vacating the apartment, almost my entire security deposit was withheld for cleaning fees, despite having hired a professional cleaning service prior to my departure. Due to these issues, legal action is being considered. Do not rent here! I am spreading the word all across Champaign Urbana through every connection I have!
I am also writing under an account name that was not on the lease.
Update: I have reviewed Royse's response and found it to be the least helpful regarding my ongoing matters. I previously filed a dispute concerning my security deposit and, still, after my extensive cleaning, had to pay them after moving out. Unless I receive a refund of my deposit from Royse, I intend to keep raising awareness. This week I will share my message about Royse across TikTok so others do not fall into the trap of this apartment complex like I did.
-Amanda Keafer
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September 2024 by fransz murphy
I live in the building. Price is ok. Generally clean inside hallways.
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September 2024 by Kittensforworlddomination Bark
I rented here for a few years. There have been good and bad points. They added a community garden at my building, which I loved. There were community events like a chili cook Off, Halloween party, and charity events. The neighbors were mostly quiet. The laundry prices went up a lot when I was there, but stayed under three dollars per machine. They fixed a big crack in the parkinglot. The building was well lit at night. Getting things fixed could take days or weeks depending on how serious the issue was.
There are not cameras in the parkinglot or laundry rooms which led to some issues. (I wanted to give 4 stars overall, but the issues caused by this lack of security were not minor issues.)
A minor communication issue was that when it came to having people view the apartment, more than once R&B only gave 15 minutes notice. There were many times I was waiting and they didn't communicate that the showing was canceled. Once they showed up hours after when I was already in pajamas.
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September 2024 by Lia Cooper
We lived in a small budget friendly apartment with R&B for 3 years.
The biggest shout out i have to give to R&B is their maintenance team. We interacted with three maintenance men several times over the first year we lived there. They were very fast and responsive, they worked hard to make sure we had working appliances, and they were always respectful of our time and space. We kept living at R&B because we knew that we were rolling the dice on another management company's maintenance department and honestly, in an apartment living situation, that's a REALLY crucial element. Especially when you're renting older buildings, having a crew that works to keep your living space liveable makes a difference.
My second shoutout is to the R&B community managers. We participated in the Healey St Community garden for two summers before moving out and the manager was lovely. She worked hard to make it an inviting space and it was extremely affordable. The community of gardeners were also lovely. Being able to have a garden plot while living in a small apartment was amazing. This is a community feature (and i know they have a garden at Stonegate and do a lot of friendly mixers at other communities) that go a long way to making renting feel more like living.
Our property manager (Teri?) was also super helpful when I had a couple of Christmas packages get delivered to the wrong building.
Did they raise the rent every year? Yes, I think by about $100 total across 3 years. Pretty in-line with 3% annual inflation.
But considering the horror stories you hear about other property managers in this town, I feel like R&B is still a really good choice, especially with their smaller properties. We lived on Green St and the building felt safe, the crews kept the lawns cleaned up, the stairwells never stank, we never had a pest problem (again, you can't say this about some other places). The only reason we moved was that we bought a house, otherwise we probably would have stayed several more years with R&B.
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August 2024 by Mark B
I locked out myself out while unloading on the first night of my lease. I had to call for help 3 times over more than an hour before the after hours help told me I needed to call a locksmith. I don't understand why they didn't know the procedure or at least call me back once they realized they would not be helping me.
The next day, I had trouble getting someone to tell me my internet password, even after driving to the main office. The lady I talked to did not apologize or try to explain why I would have to wait 3 days after moving in to access the internet.
I hope things improve. The staff member who finally tracked down my password was capable and sympathetic.
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July 2024 by Dela Realidad
This company has been the best experience I have ever had with a landlord ever. They are very quick and responsive with maintenance, and they have been nothing but accommodating and friendly in every way. I loved my time with Royce and Brinkenmeyer! I especially want to thank Terri; she went above and beyond when I was looking for an apartment and when I had to sublease to move to Chicago. She made everything much easier, which made the difficult experience of moving much more tolerable. Thank you so much, Terri! I highly recommend this company.
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July 2024 by Brandon Drake
I lived there for 3 years. Don’t believe the positive reviews if you’re considering living here. They are highly skilled scam artists. Just as any rental company these days. They are understaffed and master marketers. They will do the bare minimum once you’ve moved in. My unit was dirty and outdated when I moved in. I made sure to note that the paint job was bad and the carpets were falling apart and COVERED in powdered carpet cleaner to mask whatever smell was there before. They still charged me 180$ to clean the carpets after living in my apartment for 2 years. Why didn’t they clean them before I moved in? There were hairs and it was clear they sprinkled it with waaaay to much cleaner and vacuumed it. Then they charged me 600$ to paint my apartment. That’s my entire deposit. I never missed a payment. I was clean and a good neighbor. I donated extra toys to members of their staff. Then I move out and they charged me an extra 700$ over my security deposit and claim that I left the place a wreck. Please if you’re considering living here, read the 1 star reviews. Half of the 5 star reviews are fake or from people the staff knows or people who have lived there for 20+ years. There is nothing positive for me to say about this company and I hope one day the world will change and companies won’t be able to treat people like this.
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July 2024 by E
I live in 312 w Clark for two years and it was good. Management is great about communicating, the unit was as described, it’s within walking distance to west side park, the lit, and champaign library as well as being of the bus route. Some of the negatives the walls are super thin (I often heard my neighbors tv or sneeze) the walls are also impossible to hang anything without cause a lot of damage as well as the having been painted dozens of times so the paint is kinda of cracking.
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July 2024 by Blaine Hill
I lived at R+B from 2022 to 2024. Although the units were on the older side (90% of Champaign was built prior to 1980), R+B was on top of maintenance, had a convenient online portal, and had extra helpful customer service. I've heard the horror stories of fellow students picking Green St. Realty (who are known for less than stellar maintenance and customer service) and am glad that R+B is the opposite!
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July 2024 by Thomas B.
Horrible experience trying to rent an apartment. Management(Tari Christians) did not know who I was after I had tried to reach her three times and left a voicemail. There seemed as if there was no communication between her and the person awnsering the main phone(12173521129). Aswell she was overly persistent with trying get information and escalated an already difficult situation.
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June 2024 by Michael Moutray
I have been renting from R&B for 25 years. Started at Ginger Creek and now I’m in Savoy. R&B has been great to me over the years, understanding my changing needs and accommodating my changes as much as possible. The staff are very friendly and always helpful, especially Katie, Kara and Neal who I think are fantastic. When it comes to repairs the maintenance department is always prompt and efficient. My daughter also has been renting from R&B for years. For me personally my 25 years as a renter with Royce and Brinkmeyer has been a great experience.
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June 2024 by Jennifer Hudgens
I’ve loved at Misty Cove for four years. Those have been four absolutely positive years. Management is responsive and always anxious to meet my needs. I especially appreciate their thoughtfulness and community involvement!
