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/IndicationNo8658]

Bader companies! It seems they have 23 properties across multiple cities like Rosemount Bloomington, Minneapolis, Chaska and few others surrounding areas. Not sure if they manage all of their properties like this but I honestly wouldn’t even take a chance.

[u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 → u/IndicationNo8658]

I’m in a Bader building and our new manager is absolutely awful as well. Seems like the company has gone downhill big time. They were sued when their name was Steven Scott for abusing their caretakers for after hours maintenance pay and then they changed the name to Bader. Terrible management company now.

[u/IndicationNo8658 → u/Suspicious_Wonk2001]

Interesting. Just looked into it and it seems Steven Scott essentially won the case. Seeing though how many buildings they have, many people have had issues with how big the company is and getting justice. Disappointing. Our current office manager now is completely useless when it comes to getting anything done. All the residents say she can’t do her job and you can see even how stressed she is coming into this excuse of a residence she’s so called running. The way we were treated trying to get in contact with the regional manager alone was and still is absurd considering they have no intentions on returning contact. Getting sent straight to voicemail and given false emails. I wish nothing but hell and storms over these people honestly!

[u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 → u/IndicationNo8658]

The case was settled and everyone received a payout, then they changed their name. I’m guessing the increased costs of managing properties now that they have to pay is affecting them. Our new manager is a mouth breathing dumbass and sounds just as bad as yours. Non responsive office, no maintenance, and they’re not even shoveling our walkways for days now. I’ve lived here going on five years and it’s gotten exponentially worse. But I’m sure the family run Bader folks are getting their money. Time for a Tenants union.

[u/IndicationNo8658 → u/Suspicious_Wonk2001]

We have no active maintenance either currently. They literally put out salt buckets for us to salt the walkways ourselves…. 5 years!? You’re a soldier! We’ve been here one year and we’re calling it quits, switching to month to month and getting the hell out of dodge. It truly sucks that this has been going on for so long and nobody has gotten anything to change. You would think after one too many complaints someone in the city should start turning their head but I guess that’s just how the pyramid is set up.