The city of Burnsville sued the owner of the Glen at Burnsville apartment complex

The leak started in the bathroom in August, with water constantly running down the vent. It soon spread to the kitchen, leaving brown stains and softening parts of the wall.

A few weeks later, something blooming in a closet caught Mark Bauer’s attention.

“I don’t want to pay to live with mold,” he said.

Bauer lives in a one-bedroom apartment at The Glen in Burnsville, a three-story apartment complex near Interstate 35W. The buildings are the focus of a lawsuit filed Oct. 15 by the city of Burnsville.

The suit, filed in Dakota County District Court, alleges the complex’s owner failed to fix numerous code violations, from fire doors that didn’t close properly to a sprinkler system that was overdue for inspections. It also lists dozens of problems inspectors have found since August 2023. Some of these, such as flooded ceilings, are ones Bauer continues to encounter.

A property must pass a city inspection to obtain a rental license. City officials say the owner of the Glen in Burnsville, which is subject to pending violations, is illegally renting the space without proper credentials.

Some of the problems have been fixed, the complaint says. The city is asking the owner to fix all remaining violations and bring the building up to city, rent and fire codes.

The owner seems to be away from Burnsville. Two of the five companies sued by the city are related to Priderock Capital Partners, a Florida real estate company that owns apartment complexes from coast to coast. The Glen in Burnsville is one of the Properties of Pryderok.