Willows on France (Jessi Joshi) Gross conditions from move-in and throughout, THEN withheld security deposit for absolutely no reason Bloomington Minnesota

Renters beware... I've never written an online review of anything, but after this experience I have to give prospective renters a heads up. Sorry this lengthy, but had to share this absurd experience.

 

Thank God I'll never live at Willows on France again, and thank God I don't have to deal with Equimax Real Estate again:

 

My wife and I lived there March 2016-July 2016 as a cheap place to rent between selling and buying a house. We are the farthest from picky or high maintenance so it feels weird even writing this, but here goes. All this happened in 4 months...

 

-Move-in day: Both sinks and bathtub clogged, spider webs between the bathroom vanity and the tub, dirty oven, lightswitch covers missing which left wiring exposed, some lights not working. Gross old cat toy resting on dusty AC unit. We had low expectations though, it's a cheap place to rent, big deal right?

 

-3 different rains lead to water pouring into our apartment. Not just a few drops in the windowsills, water actually streaming down the walls and 5-6 sq. ft. puddles growing on the bedroom and living room floors. We didn't make a stink about it, we were going to be out of there shortly..

 

-Our dog got attacked by a 50lb unregistered dog off its leash. After hundreds of dollars in emergency vet bills to get staples, shots, treatment, etc. for the wound, management tried but failed to find the resident responsible for the dog being on the property (whether it was a resident's dog, or guest of a resident's dog, I don't know). We considered asking Willows to reimburse us for the bills.. if Willows was allowing unregistered dogs to live on their property and can't find the resident responsible, then they should be held accountable, right? Believe it or not we let Willows off the hook.

 

-A handful of times, there was what looked to be a homeless, shoeless woman on drugs digging through the dumpsters. We also heard there were numerous incidents with police entering the complex to escort a crack/heroin addict out, but the apartment couldn't keep the guy away from his girlfriend's apartment at Willows. Weed can be smelled on a regular basis in the apartment. Hallways smell like rotten food in general, but none of this is the reason for the review.

 

-Despite all of the above, I wouldn't have written this. The final straw was that they had the nerve to withhold money from our security deposit because the 'oven was dirty'.. Surely this was a mistake. We cleaned every inch of that apartment thoroughly, including the oven, top of ceiling fan blades, you name it... the oven was dirty when we moved in, but not when we moved out!

 

I called management at Willows and got zero help.."that's our policy, but Equimax Real Estate decides that stuff, call them".. I called Equimax and they said "that's our policy, you signed documents agreeing to our terms, I didn't personally inspect your place but 'they' said the oven was dirty".

 

I asked for pictures of the supposedly dirty oven and they didn't have any. 

 

I said of course I signed documents for the lease agreement.. but when you also adhere to the agreement, you don't get to take our money. 

 

Turns out they couldn't provide me with some signed document that reads: "If I move into a dirty and barely functioning apartment, deal with a gross living environment, clean it up thoroughly for you and leave it as a clean living space.. then feel free to keep money security deposit for a BS 'dirty oven' charge!"