Tenants at BYU-Idaho housing complex scrambling to find housing after being told to prepare to leave

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) - Residents at a Brigham Young University-Idaho housing complex are scrambling over the possibility of needing to find new housing for the spring semester.

Tenants at Brigham's Mill were told via email on March 22 to be prepared to move out by April 8, the day after the winter semester ends.

The owners and property management company did not give tenants a formal, 30-day notice as required by Idaho law.

“It is with regret that we are sending out, at the request of the ownership of Brigham’s Mill, the following notification of the possibility of Brigham’s Mill not providing housing for the Spring 2022 Semester,” reads the email from Colleen Gibson, owner of Connextion Property Management, the company that manages the rental agreements.

This notice followed:

“The owners of Brigham’s Mill are currently exploring options to convert the property into community housing. However, this is contingent on receiving approval from the city of Rexburg on April 6th AND receiving sufficient qualified buyers over the next ~2.5 weeks. You are receiving this notice because you have a contract with Brigham’s Mill for the Spring Semester commencing on April 15th. If you wish to cancel your contract now in order to secure housing elsewhere, you may do so by canceling your contract and paying the $100 cancellation fee specified in the contract. Otherwise, if we (the owners) decide to move forward with selling Brigham’s Mill as individual condos, we will notify you no later than April 8th and pay a full refund of all monies paid including the cancellation fee within 15 days as per the BYU-I Student Landlord Housing Contract.”

Guillermo Lemus and Ammon Taylor have lived at the complex for about three years, and have contracts until September. They say about 50 tenants have contracts that won’t end for a few months, and some don’t want to move before those are up.

But for some residents like Samuel Bird, the news comes at the worst time.

"I've been stressed out of my mind," Bird said. "I actually used to be homeless and I have a very poor family. Coming to college was already very stressful. And you know, I just have been working my butt off and doing my best, and finals week's crazy stressful. And then to find out that I don't have a home again. I did very poorly on an exam, which I normally would do very well on."

Bird says the stress of everything has "been a nightmare."

Lemus and Taylor believe the owners of Brigham’s Mill didn’t expect pushback from the tenants.

“They’re trying to push this as soon as possible,” Lemus says. “They think that we are just college students and we will just roll over.”

The duo is hopeful their willingness to know and assert their rights will prevent others from having the same problem.

Lemus said Tuesday night the owners met with him and Taylor saying it was "Very cordial. We're discussing options and possible solutions, and are proceeding with mediation."

Multiple attempts to obtain comment from Connextion Property Management and the owner of Brigham’s Mill, Greg Nelson, were unsuccessful.

The units can’t be sold as condos until and unless the Rexburg City Council approves the plat change at their upcoming meeting Wednesday.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 35 N First East, Rexburg. It's open to the public and can be streamed here.