Leasing Information

Apartment and Parking Leasing Definitions and Procedures

If you are interested in leasing an apartment for the 2013-2014 lease year, please add your name to the Apartment Contact List. You will receive general email updates regarding our upcoming leasing calendar and procedures.

Viewing Appointments

In order to view an apartment, prospective residents need to schedule an appointment by calling our office at 217-359-6108. JSM shows apartments from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, and from noon to 5:00 pm on Saturday. Though we gladly accept walk-in appointments, our schedule may not always be able to accommodate them. We recommend calling a few days in advance of your desired appointment time.

Please meet at our office promptly at your appointed time. If you are driving to our office, please use our parking lot located behind our office building. If the weather is nice and the buildings are close by, we may opt to walk you to the building. Otherwise, we will drive you to your desired locations in one of our company vehicles.

Lease Applications

All prospective residents must submit an online application to JSM prior to calling the JSM office (217-359-6108) to schedule a lease signing appointment. Please complete an application at: https://maintenance.jsmapts.com/champaign/client/lease_application.html.

Lease Signing Appointments

After all roommates have submitted their applications, please have one roommate call the JSM office at 217-359-6108 to schedule a lease signing appointment. Appointments are scheduled based on availability Mondays through Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For all lease signing appointments, JSM suggests that all prospective residents attend. If scheduling difficulties arise, JSM will allow only one person in the group to be added onto the lease and sign at a later date. The minimum number of people required to sign the lease is four for a 5- bedroom, three for a 4-bedroom, two for a 3-bedroom and one for a 2-bedroom.

Prospective residents are encouraged to review the sample lease found on our website, and come to the lease signing appointment prepared with any questions they may have. At the appointment, prospective residents will pay the security deposit, sign the lease and receive a copy of the lease for their records. A security deposit is the damage deposit paid to JSM at the signing of the lease agreement. The amount of the security deposit equals the monthly rent amount, but is not to be used for rent payment. Instead, the deposit is returned to the lessees within 30 days after the lease expires less any deductions for new damages, carpet cleaning, necessary cleaning or painting and account balances

At a viewing and lease signing appointment, prospective residents will schedule a viewing appointment in conjunction with a lease signing appointment. After viewing two or three available units in the desired building, prospective residents will return to the office to sign for their selected unit. At a standard lease signing appointment, prospective residents will select from a map of available units and then sign the lease.

Renewals

Renewals occur when one or more of the current residents of an apartment sign the lease for the same unit for the following year. Residents understand that between the two lease periods, JSM will not assess the apartment for damages nor clean the apartment. JSM will inform our current residents of the new rent rates as early as move-in day so that residents can begin renewal discussions as soon as possible. Current residents wanting to renew for the following year must call the JSM office to request that a renewal lease be mailed to the apartment address. Current residents must inform JSM of all names of people who will be signing the renewal lease. The minimum number of people required to sign the lease is four for a 5-bedroom, three for a 4-bedroom, two for a 3-bedroom and one for a 2-bedroom. Prospective residents who are not currently JSM residents must submit an online credit application before requesting a mailed renewal lease.

Renewing residents can begin calling to request the mailed renewal lease on the start date of their current lease, but must submit their request no later than the deadline provided. Upon receipt, residents will be required to sign the lease and any accompanying paperwork, include check(s) for the balance of the security deposit and hand-deliver the paperwork to the JSM office by the deadline specified in the cover letter accompanying the mailed lease. If time permits, residents will be given a copy of the signed lease. If not, JSM will mail the lease copy to the apartment.

Transfers

Transfers occur when one or more of the current residents of an apartment choose to sign a lease for the following lease year in a different apartment with JSM. Prospective residents who are not currently JSM residents must submit an online credit application before contacting JSM to request a transfer. Once contacted that an apartment is available, prospective tenants must immediately schedule a lease signing appointment. The minimum number of people required to sign the lease is four for a 5-bedroom, three for a 4-bedroom, two for a 3-bedroom and one for a 2-bedroom. At the appointment, the security deposit balance must be paid. If possible, residents will be allowed to remain in their current apartment beyond the lease end date in order to transfer directly into their new JSM apartment. Please inquire with the JSM office.

Passdowns

Passdowns occur when the current residents of a particular apartment decide not to renew the apartment for the following year. Instead they provide JSM with the names of prospective tenants who want this particular unit. These prospective tenants may be relatives or close friends who are interested in leasing the apartment for the following year. Passdowns enable these prospective residents to reserve the apartment until their lease signing appointment. Passdowns will only be permitted at the following locations: 501 E. Healey, 505 E. Healey, 508 E. Healey, 508 E. John and 616 E. Green

All passdown recipients must first submit online applications at https://maintenance.jsmapts.com/champaign/client/lease_application.html.

JSM must receive the names of the prospective tenants from the current residents before prospective residents call the office to schedule a lease signing appointment and no later than the deadline provided. Current residents need not submit another application, but prospective residents who are not currently JSM residents must submit an online credit application before calling the office to schedule a lease signing appointment. At the appointment, the security deposit balance must be paid. These prospective passdown tenants must sign the lease prior the passdown deadline.

Parking

When signing their apartment lease, prospective residents will be given the option to sign for one parking space per apartment. However, if individual residents currently leasing parking spaces want to renew the same spaces along with their apartments, they must request JSM to mail their renewal parking leases along with the renewal apartment lease. Both the renewal apartment lease and parking lease must be signed and returned with payment by the specified deadline. If residents transfer from one apartment to another within the same building and they would like to renew the same parking spaces, they must request for their parking spaces to be reserved until the space can be signed for at the apartment lease signing appointment. As a result, residents will be able to sign for either one space or for the number of renewed parking spaces.

Prospective residents signing for a new parking space will choose from a map of available spaces and sign the lease for that particular space. The yearly parking fee will be due upon signing in either a single full payment or with two checks (the first check dated for that day payable for half the parking fee plus any remote deposit, and the second check dated for 30 days later payable for the remaining half of the fee).

If an apartment needs more than one parking space, one resident should sign for the first parking space while the other residents can place their names and contact information on the parking waiting list for the building. Each apartment will be allowed to sign for one parking space if they sign by the deadline specified on the leasing calendar. If residents miss the deadline to sign for their first parking space, they can place their names and contact information at the bottom of the parking waiting list for the building.

After the deadline, JSM will tally the number of parking spaces still available at each building. JSM will call the same number of people listed at the top of the parking waiting list for that building and provide a deadline to come to the office to sign a parking lease. After the deadline expires, JSM will recount the number of available spaces and call the next people on the waiting list.

If parking is no longer available at your specific building and the waiting list has been exhausted, JSM will allow residents to sign for any spaces available at other nearby JSM locations.

Subleasing Information

Current residents may sublease their apartments to another person by signing a sublease agreement through JSM. This sublease contract is an agreement between the original resident (sublessor) and the new resident (sublessee). The original resident will still be ultimately responsible to JSM for the lease obligations should the sublessee not fulfill her sublease obligations. Fees for subleasing are $25 for each apartment sublease agreement.

Current residents are responsible for locating their own sublessees. Choose responsible individuals as your sublessees. Residents can place their names on JSM's online sublease referral list, http://www.jsmapts.com/client/SubmitListing.aspx. We also suggest that residents searching for sublessees post a listing on Craigslist, place an ad in the Daily Illini and/or post flyers throughout campus.

All sublease applicants must submit an online application. Once a sublessee is found, please instruct them to submit their application located on our website, www.jsmapts.com, before an appointment can be scheduled. Original residents must call our office (217-359-6108) to schedule a sublease signing appointment. Potential sublessees not passing the credit application will not be allowed to sign the sublease agreement. Any outstanding balance must be paid in full before the sublease signing appointment.

Before the appointment, original residents and potential sublessees must discuss and decide upon the following items which will be written into the sublease agreement: start date of the sublease, end date of the sublease (cannot exceed the lease end date), sublessee payment amount and security deposit. If the agreed sublease amount is short of the lease amount, the sublessor will be responsible for paying the difference to JSM.

JSM strongly suggests that the sublessor require the sublessee to pay a security deposit. This can be any amount agreed upon and is paid directly to the original resident. At the sublease signing appointment, residents will be given a new "Inventory & Condition Report". JSM recommends that on or near the start date of the sublease, one of the current residents and one of the sublessees inspect the apartment together noting the condition of all items on the report. Both individuals should sign it, date it and keep copies for themselves. If the sublease end date coincides with the end of the original lease, the sublessor will wait to receive the information on deductions from the original security deposit paid to JSM. The sublessor is required to return the sublessee's security deposit within thirty days of receiving information on their security deposit from JSM. If the sublease end date is prior to the end of the original lease, the sublessor will need to inspect the apartment for damages. The sublessor must return the security deposit within thirty days of the end of the sublease agreement.

If all roommates in a multiple bedroom apartment are subleasing, the current residents need to designate one roommate to act as their representative to sign the sublease by signing an "Authorization to Designate Sublease Signing Representative" form. This form can be obtained from our office or downloaded from our website, but needs to be signed and presented at the sublease signing appointment. The representative is the only person from the current roommates that needs to come to the signing appointment. However, all new sublessees must be present at the signing appointment.

If all roommates are not subleasing, the roommates who are not subleasing must sign a "Sublease Authorization" form which can be obtained from our office but needs to be presented at the sublease signing appointment.

Summer sublessees (those who sublease from May through August only) as well as original residents must pay the entire summer rent amount to JSM at the lease signing appointment. Summer sublessees must pay by cash or money order - no personal checks. Original residents may pay with personal checks, cash or money order. Regular sublessees can pay their rent in monthly installments on the first of each month in accordance with the original lease agreement by check, cash or money order.

If any of the original residents has automatic withdrawal for rent, he/she must fill out a summer withdrawal form. If a summer withdrawal form is not turned into the office, the original amount will continue to be deducted.

If a parking space is also being subleased, an "Agreement to Sublease Parking Space" can be obtained from our office and must be completed by the original parking tenant and the person to whom the space is being sublet.