Rental properties surrounding the University of Minnesota are some of the most competitive in the city, with students signing some leases nearly a year in advance. With half of the school year behind us, many students are feeling immense pressure to secure their housing accommodations for next fall. 

It’s tempting to sign with a large real estate conglomerate amid everyone’s busy schedule, offering a vast catalog of units and employing an army of workers to help expedite the process. While this might offer some peace of mind for the time being, that feeling can quickly disappear soon after move-in day.

There are currently four landlords on the Office of Student Affairs list of non-compliance properties, but one in particular, Millennium Management, has become particularly infamous for its vast real estate holdings and incredibly poor oversight.

Millennium owns a swath of units in the Marcy-Holmes and Como neighborhoods, two of the most desirable areas for students. Despite knowing the company’s reputation, many students still decide to lease from them, assuming that for a relatively short rental period, the experience can’t be too bad.

Many have indeed had decent experiences. But when renting with Millennium, you need to be ready for anything.

Earlier this year, University third-year student Sarah LaBarre signed a lease for a house on University Avenue. But just weeks before moving in, she was contacted by Millennium and told the property was still undergoing renovations. The work included the addition of a new bathroom, a modification not included in the original lease. 

With nowhere else to go on such short notice, LaBarre and her roommates reluctantly agreed to move into the alternative property offered by Millennium. Upon meeting the departing tenants, they discovered that those tenants underwent the exact same experience trying to rent that same house on University Avenue, except they were reassigned to the other residence a mere two days prior to moving day.

Despite being reassured by Millennium that this house would be suitable, it has posed nothing but problems for LaBarre. 

The area around the basement air conditioning unit accrued a layer of mold so thick they’ve still been unable to fully remove it, the washer and dryer consistently break down, the downstairs bathroom has exposed wiring and neither of their two ovens worked for the first three months of their lease, and one has still yet to be fixed. 

Shortly after moving in, they were treated to a squirrel infestation — followed by a rat infestation. Although both issues were addressed quickly, a dead rat was left inside the walls, which triggered a fly infestation. 

“Minimum five, no, not even five, 10 to 20 flies in every room,” LaBarre said. 

While LaBarre and her roommates were away for Thanksgiving break, Millennium sent an exterminator to deal with the flies. However, the carcasses were never removed, leaving a surprise waiting for them when they returned to the city.

Most pressing of all, the majority of the radiators on the second floor are inoperable, posing a severe risk for LaBarre’s pet rats. Maintenance examined the radiators several times, insisting that they were in working order despite the house’s frigid temperature.

“They’re rats, and they can’t freeze, because then they’ll die,” LaBarre said. “So I had to buy a portable radiator, which increased our electricity bill by a lot.”

Maintenance is consistently slow to respond in units without an on-site repairman in LaBarre’s experience. She said Millennium’s maintenance workers are understaffed and overworked, with one telling her he hadn’t had a day off in three weeks. 

Moreover, the system for submitting requests has a poor user interface that provides no confirmation that a request has been received.

“There’s no real way of knowing that they’ve seen the maintenance request other than blind hope,” LaBarre said. 

University fourth-year student Natalie Rath concurred, saying issues in the two Como neighborhood houses she has rented from Millennium came with broken appliances, faulty wiring, leaking ceilings and black mold and mushroom growth, which often go unaddressed when complaints are submitted through the online portal. If they need something addressed, Roth and her roommates instead opt for calling Millennium’s office repeatedly every day.

“They put you in a situation where you’re so fed up with everything and the only person you have to yell at is the maintenance people,” Rath said. “But they’re also getting exploited by Millennium Management.” 

In the coming months, there will be an inevitable new wave of students who, against their better judgment, will sign with Millennium. 

If that ends up being you, be sure to have a Student Legal Services representative review your lease and be aware that any promises of repairs or upkeep during house tours are not necessarily binding if they’re not made in writing.

Even then, there’s no security in knowing your rights when dealing with a company that has repeatedly demonstrated they’re not concerned with legality. 

Millennium operates on a predatory business model, emboldened to act with disregard toward their renters, knowing that they are primarily young, inexperienced and often more willing to wait out a lease than go through the trouble of filing suit.

While older units like LaBarre’s and Rath’s are more likely to have issues than Millennium’s newer developments, nothing should be considered guaranteed when renting with Millennium.

If you can find any alternative landlord to Millennium or the other companies listed on the non-compliance list, absolutely do so. Vote with your dollars. Vote against Millennium’s monopolization of student housing and abuse of your fellow students.