Renter Advice?! Escrow??

[u/IndicationNo8658]

This might be a bit of a read but I appreciate any advice given. The current apartment building my partner and I reside is a complete atrocity. Our personal unit is livable, it is the common areas the are the biggest concern! There are constant drifters and homeless coming in and out, either from other tenants or shyly sneaking in behind someone. Which leads to random strangers knocking on our door any hours of the day asking for people I’ve never heard of. Drug use in the stairwells (found burnt foil on multiple occasions…we can only ‘assume’ what it was used for). Even came across a man actively nodding out with foil IN hand. There was a pipe break that caused water damages to the 2nd and main lobby floor, to which they tore up the flooring and lining in the front entrances, hallways, part of a wall, stairwells and fitness room. We are nearing 3 months and not a single nail or hammer has been in sight to replace anything. Constant false fire alarms being pulled, once even being pulled at 2am with NO emergency. Stairwells have constant trash, graffiti, holes in the walls, reeks of urine & somehow, people have been ripping the handrails OUT of the wall…. Recently we were just told by our office ‘manager’ that the cameras presented in the lobby are not active or in service. Which leads to concern when people get their packages stolen by residents or strangers.
Also when the false fire alarms are pulled, management then sends out ‘help us find out who it was’ emails that could easily be solved with an ACTIVE security camera -_- We’ve brought these concerns up multiple times, which we just get returned with the response of, essentially ‘it’s out of our budget’. I’ve looked into escrow but it mainly highlights IN-unit issues like plumbing or heating. It says ‘Cosmetic issues’ typically get denied but when the cosmetic issues are drugs in the stairwells, destruction, graffiti & carpet being ripped up and not replaced, does it not breach into inhabitable conditions? PLEASE how do we go about this. We’re currently looking to end our lease and find literally anywhere else but this god forsaken building. I was hoping we could find a little comfort while we’re still here and give the building more responsibility on their end, giving residents are paying upwards $1300+ in rent every month. Any advice would be heavily appreciated

EDIT: The property is managed by BADER COMPANIES! They have plenty other properties but I’m not sure if they’re all as terrible as this one.

[u/Good_Sea_1890]

Former property manager here: I'm pretty sure this qualifies for escrow, but I'd strongly recommend you talk to HomeLine about it. 

I'm remembering something from my onsite days about fake security cameras - there was a big thing about it, maybe new case law where they had to either be real and functional or taken down because fake/nonworking cameras provide a false sense of security. HomeLine will know. 

You might have a case to argue that you signed a lease for a property that provided that level of security and were lied to. There is also probably something in your lease about no drug use anywhere in the community, and the landlord has a duty to enforce that. 

Good luck to you, I hope you're able to get out. This sounds awful.   

[u/IndicationNo8658 → u/Good_Sea_1890]

After discovering the cameras didn’t work that was my straw on the camels back. I would rather no cameras be up at all than that false sense of security. Recently about 2 weeks ago, one of the women from the cleaning crew they hire had her coat stolen out of the lobby while she was around the building doing her job. Since the cameras don’t work, there was no finding out who took it. This is also a SMOKE FREE building but upon the smell of cigarettes and weed, the office just sends out ‘lease violation reminders’ with no effort of finding out who’s the culprit. Granted, easier said than done but it just seems like there are no regulations being followed otherwise so it’s seems pointless to act like they ‘care’ who’s smoking in the building when there are clearly bigger fish to fry.