Some residents of The Quarters on Campus, which includes six West Campus properties, have been displaced with little notice during the past month due to renovations that require residents to move out. 

Residents said it was difficult to find out about their new housing arrangements because of a lack of communication and responses from The Quarters. The Quarters offered to place residents in the Moxy Hotel or relocate them to another empty apartment, according to an email from The Quarters to residents, obtained by The Daily Texan. There was also an option to stay during renovations, although one email said due to renovations on certain days, “access in/out of your unit will be next to impossible.”

The renovations were supposed to take eight business days per unit, according to an email to The Quarters residents. 

Jennifer Tran, a biochemistry and Asian American studies senior, said she was given a two-day notice before renovations started and was moved to another apartment within the complex. Tran’s lease states the complex can relocate any resident with a five-day notice. Tran also said she did not see construction workers wearing masks inside the complex. 

“I’ve lived here for three years, so I wasn’t surprised by the kind of treatment we received,” Tran said. “I was really angry and upset because I really genuinely felt kind of helpless.” 

Mike Watson, a property manager for The Quarters, said the complex has been “openly communicating” with residents since renovations began in early 2020 by emailing residents two weeks in advance and sending a follow-up a week later. Watson said the complex “fell short of that commitment” due to the recent winter storm.

“Upon realizing the issue, we addressed it and reached out immediately to the residents affected,” Watson said in an email. 

Watson did not respond to a request for comment on how the issue was “addressed.”

Civil engineering senior Evana Wang said she was given a 10-day notice before renovations began, but did not receive her hotel reservations until the day before moving out. Wang said she did not receive a rent reduction this month for having to relocate. 

Wang was housed at the Moxy Hotel — which does not have fridges, microwaves or kitchens in the rooms — for 19 days because of the recent winter storm. 

“When all the restaurants closed, we were kind of left to fend for ourselves,” Wang said. 

Wang said The Quarters did not tell her when she could return to her apartment until the day of. She said when they moved back in, there was debris left in her apartment, furniture was rearranged and some of the renovations were not complete.

Finance junior Maryam Syed said she moved into the Moxy Hotel on Feb. 4 and is still living there as of Monday. Syed said their property manager told her and her roommates The Quarters would offer some compensation for meals. She said she has visited her apartment since renovations started and said her desk was broken beyond repair. 

Syed said she and her roommates discussed their frustrations with their property manager, who offered to renew their lease at a lower rate. She said when they applied, the room was taken by other tenants and there were no longer any four-bedroom apartments available. Now, Syed and her roommates will have to move when the lease expires. 

“That just goes to show they really don’t care about their residents, and they just do whatever they have to get done and just say ‘screw you’ in the process,” Syed said. “You would hope the apartment you’re staying at would … not take advantage of you in that way … but I don’t think that’s the case with Quarters.”

Editor's Note: This story first appeared in The Daily Texan's March 2 print edition.