The apartment complexes formerly operated by CJB Apartments will go up for sale Wednesday morning. Tenants, mostly students, have no idea where $158,600 in security deposits have gone.
CJB, which sported the mascot "Bernie" and offered apartments mainly to students, lost Cardinal Villas, Everbrook, Sunreach, Autumn Breeze, Silvertree and Windsong apartments to foreclosure this spring.
The complexes will be sold in an auction at the Office of the Sheriff of Delaware County at 10 a.m. The asking price for all six complexes is $18,403,593.
Charles Joe Burnworth and Linda Burnworth, owners of CJB, filed for bankruptcy on April 29 after suffering numerous debts. Asset Management assumed control of the properties shortly thereafter.
When the shift in management control occurred, the deposit money was supposed to be turned over to Asset Management, but according to Asset Management, the money never appeared.
The Burnworths maintain that they turned the money over to Asset Management.
"As far as I know CJB never returns damage deposits [to its tenants]," Rhonda Janney of Asset Management said.
But Bill Tucker, of Tucker and Associates, the firm representing CJB, says otherwise, insisting that CJB no longer has the money and that all assets were in fact turned over to Asset Management.
Regardless, $158,600 is missing, and whoever buys the complexes shouldn't be responsible for it. The new ownership will have enough problems with repairs.
"80 of the 308 apartments are not rentable without a significant amount of work," Asset Management stated in court documents.
But it's not all student-inflicted damage.
Alan Rosenwihel, a fifth-year student living in Silvertree, had to live in a flooded apartment after $15,000 in damages was done to his apartment. The ceiling of his apartment caved in because of poor plumbing in the apartment above his own.
Faulty appliances and plumbing are commonplace in the complexes.
Even when these apartments are sold, these damage deposits won't be refunded.
Students should not lose their money because of a business failure. If that happens, it will be yet another example of Muncie landlords ripping off Ball State students.
Tenants should band together in a class-action manner and pursue legal action through Student Legal Services.
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