Balfour Beatty Military Housing: The $65M Fraud Plea and Your Lease

Balfour Beatty Communities pleaded guilty to a federal crime over how it ran military housing. The Justice Department’s December 22, 2021 release says the company, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count of major fraud against the United States over a scheme to collect performance bonuses it had not earned. Its resident page today lists dozens of military communities, from Fort Bliss Family Homes to NAS Pensacola Homes (read October 10, 2026). This page lays out what the plea covered in DOJ’s own numbers, what it changes for a tenant, and the lease terms Balfour Beatty and the Army publish at Fort Bliss.

Your rights under every privatized lease, including the formal dispute process, are on the tenant bill of rights page.

The 2021 plea in DOJ’s numbers

DOJ release and plea agreement, both read October 10, 2026. The plea agreement lets $22,313,214 of the civil payment offset the fine and $12,981,261.91 offset restitution.

DOJ’s release says the falsified metrics caused “lengthy and unnecessary delays in the resolution of maintenance issues to the detriment of servicemembers and their families,” and that the services could not see or correct the company’s performance. An NCIS official quoted in the release describes a “scheme to delay service request entries” in the electronic tracking system. Earlier in 2021 a former community manager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a former regional manager to major fraud.

What the case means for your work orders

The fraud ran through work-order data, and Congress has since written rules for exactly that. Under 10 U.S.C. § 2891(b), added in December 2019, a landlord employee who commits work-order fraud may not work on the contract. Section 2891(f) first let a ticket close “only once the tenant and the head of the housing management office” signed off. The FY2026 NDAA, signed December 18, 2025, replaced that rule: a ticket may close only after the landlord makes at least three documented attempts to tell you the work is done, through the resident portal, text, email, and phone. If you never answer, the landlord can close it only after notifying the housing office head, who can object in writing. A note to § 2891 applies it to project documents signed or renewed on or after December 20, 2019. The Army’s Fort Bliss brief, dated November 1, 2024, still describes the older sign-off rule, so ask the housing office which practice it follows now.

So the most valuable thing you can do in a Balfour Beatty home costs nothing: answer every completion notice in writing, say so when the work is not done, and keep your own log of request dates. If a repair stalls, that log is the evidence in a formal dispute, where a commander can order the repair, cut what the landlord is paid, or credit you.

Balfour Beatty also says, on a Tenant Bill of Rights page linked from the Fort Bliss site, that it “fully supports the MHPI Tenant Bill of Rights and Universal Lease” and extends “these rights to all military service members across our military housing portfolio.” That matters because DoD says the rights reach older projects only where the company agreed. If an office tells you a right does not apply to your lease, quote that page and ask the housing office to confirm in writing.

Fort Bliss: the money terms in writing

Balfour Beatty’s Fort Bliss Family Homes site and the Army’s Fort Bliss brief, both read October 10, 2026, set these terms:

• Move-in costs. “No security deposit, application fee, pet deposit, credit check or lengthy lease terms are required,” and “average monthly utilities are included with rent.”
• Where your BAH goes. The site’s own breakdown lists rent and utilities, maintenance, amenities, and “BBC fees based on performance goals,” the same kind of incentive fee the 2021 case was about.
• Repair speed. The Army brief lists a one-hour response for emergencies such as gas leaks or the only toilet failing, and a four-hour initial response for urgent items such as a dead refrigerator. Balfour Beatty’s resident programs page promises emergency response “within 24 hours.” Hold the company to the Army’s one-hour standard.
• Refunds. The Texas addendum requires any refund to be mailed within three weeks after the lease ends or you surrender the home, whichever is later, and bars using a deposit as last month’s rent.

A one-day notice mistake, priced

The Texas addendum in the Army brief sets one more rule for a lease that has rolled to month-to-month: 30 days’ written notice, a notice period that “commences on the day after the notice to vacate is given,” and a vacate date that “must be the last day of a calendar month.”

Give notice on March 1 and the 30 days run March 2 through March 31, so you leave March 31. Give it on March 2 and the 30 days end April 1; since you must leave on a month’s last day, your vacate date becomes April 30. One day late costs a full month of rent. The safe rule: count back 30 days from the month-end you want and give notice that day or earlier. For a March 31 exit that is March 1; for April 30 it is March 31, because April has 30 days.

That rule governs a voluntary move. If PCS orders or deployment orders of 90 days or more end the lease, 50 U.S.C. § 3955 controls instead, and the landlord “may not impose an early termination charge.” The apartment lease explainer shows the statutory date, and the Texas page covers state rules.

Protect yourself in a Balfour Beatty home

1. Log every request in the resident portal and keep your own list of dates, ticket numbers, and photos.
2. Answer every work-completion notice in writing, and say so if the repair is not finished; under § 2891(f) the landlord must try three times to reach you before closing a ticket.
3. If a repair stalls, call the BBC Corporate Care Line at 877-253-6988, then your installation housing office (at Fort Bliss, (915) 568-2898 in the Army’s 2024 brief).
4. If that fails, file a formal dispute with the housing office and request BAH segregation for a maintenance or habitability problem.
5. When orders come, give written notice with orders attached under 50 U.S.C. § 3955. The letter template and lease termination calculator handle the notice and date.
6. If a spouse will handle the move-out alone, set up a power of attorney first; the spouse and family guide covers it.

The site’s enforcement ledger tracks SCRA cases against landlords and lenders, and PCS money moves covers the rest of a move budget.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3955

Termination of residential or motor vehicle leases: read the statute , or read § 3955 in plain English, with its enforcement record .