STANDERFER CONSTRUCTION INC

First I want to say I do not believe in bashing local businesses online but am hoping this helps someone else from going through the same thing we did.Currently just finished a lease for the house at 520 N 22nd St Mattoon IL from Bill Standerfer and we are strongly being a victim of fraud and have strong reasons to believe we are not the only ones. After the first few days of moving in the nightmare began. For some reason Bill Standerfer was having the house sprayed for bugs repeatedly right after we got moved in . Two days passed after moving in and they had already been there twice. Well after only a few nights of actually being there we instantly knew why. There was a horrible infestation of Roaches that they failed to tell us about. After talking with the bug guy he mentioned this had been an ongoing problem. ( Its illegal in the state of IL to rent out properties to the public knowing there is roaches as it makes the property unhealthy living conditions). It was a horrible experience. Of course I wanted to pack up everything and move but we just moved from three hours away and had a hard time even finding a place that would fit our needs. At the time I really couldnt afford to even move again. So we buckled down and decided to call our landlord Bill Standerfer. We were told by Viginia Standerfer at their office that they would keep having the bug guy come untill the problem was dealt with. It was the worst thing we have ever encountered. Roaches were in our bed, our food, car seats, couches, even in my moon pies! Since the treatments were not working as fast as we thought they would from their bug company I went out and spent over $200 on bug bombs and other roach traps(have receipts). After about two months we started to see the number of them drop dramatically and finally they were gone to our knowledge. We were just grateful at the time to finally have a roach free home in our new town. During the rest of the our lease we had nearly no issues. I paid rent on time or early each month with no excuses. Even though we were told moving in rent was $695 after it was all said and done they demanded we pay $795 for the first 6 months due to them wanting an extra month rent on top of Security Deposit and first months rent. By the time we were closing in on the End of our lease we were expecting our newborn and decided we wanted to leave the house early and get into a new house. We actually moved out a little over 2 months early of our lease ending. I notified Standerfer Properties and let them know i would still fulfill my lease and continue to pay rent, mow the yard, keep power on in my name ect. Why would I ? Because it was the right thing to do and i didn't want to start my first year off with a bad reference in the area. Standerfer notified me that if I could find someone to rent it during the meantime i would actually get money back from any rent that was paid after the new renters moved in. I paid to have the house cleaned from top to bottom, shampooed carpets, replaced all burnt out light bulbs, cleaned under and in all appliances, and left it looking better then we actually found it. Next I made a local ad and started sending them to Standerfer to make appointments to view. Over the next few weeks numerous people viewed the property but no solid leads. Two poeple messaged me and stated they noticed roach droppings when viewing the property. Finally over a month later they moved someone in. We were just happy to be finally done with this nightmare. About the only light at the end of the tunnel was the extra rent money we would receive and our security deposit. They notified us that we have to give them 30 days to make the payment to us which was fine because during the past year my business was doing good and money wasn't a worry. The ONLY issue that we were expecting to pay was the fact we lost our keys but were reassured by Standerfer that it was only a $25 fee. Yesterday (9/27/17) we received our deposit and extra rent which was suppose to be around the amount of $800-$900. It was for the amount of $160.68. Immediately i called them and was told i had to put it in writing of any disputes. They knew exactly what they were doing by dragging it out even longer hoping we just walk away from it all. What they did is fraudulent and iam sure by how they operate this is an ongoing behavior. Its a shame that there are people who act this was towards loyal families who they rent to. I am hoping this saves anyone else from going through the same thing we had to. Here are some pictures of what it looked like after we had it cleaned . Yes i have reported them to two federal agencies who deal with fraudulent landlords and of course filled a small claim case in Coles County. BEWARE