Do Not Sign at Monarch Gainesville Without Reading This.

I lived at Monarch Gainesville, a student apartment complex managed by Asset Living. My roommate threatened to kill me with a knife — not once, but multiple times. These were not vague arguments. These were explicit, direct threats involving a deadly weapon.

I called the police. Officers responded and documented the incidents. I have records of this. I was terrified to be in my own home. I could not sleep. I could not study. I was living in fear inside the apartment I was paying for.

I did everything I was supposed to do. I reported the threats to management immediately. I provided documentation. I asked — formally and in writing — to be released from my lease so I could find somewhere safe to live.

That was the response. Word for word. Management acknowledged that police had been involved. They acknowledged the situation. And they still said no.

Their alternative offer: pay an additional $400 per month in rent to temporarily relocate — to a different unit in the same building. The same building where my roommate still lived. The same building where I had been threatened.

I was not offered safety. I was offered the chance to pay more money to stay in proximity to the person who had threatened to kill me. I felt held hostage — not by my roommate, but by Asset Living and Monarch Gainesville.

Student housing companies know their tenants are often signing leases for the first time. Many are 18 or 19 years old, away from home, without legal counsel, without experience navigating landlord disputes. I believe that Asset Living and Monarch Gainesville are counting on that.

When a resident reports a threat involving a deadly weapon — with police documentation — and management's answer is to deny the lease release and offer a paid relocation in the same building, that is not a company that I believe cares about resident safety, that is a company that prioritizes revenue.

I am sharing this because I do not want another student to sign that lease without knowing what I know now. I do not want another parent to send their child to Monarch Gainesville believing they will be protected if something goes wrong. They will not be.