Renter argues with landlord due to the state of the apartment, landlord says to take it to the city, the renter complies, and they go in her favor: 'All I needed was the peeling paint fixed now I'm going to enjoy living in a unit that is up to code'

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Sep 16, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Being a renter can sometimes be horrible, but once in a while some good things happen. 


Being a landlord or being a renter can both be horrible or great. It really depends on the land, the house or apartment that's being rented, and who the renter is if you are the landlord, or who the landlord is if you are the renter. So basically, it has to do with the person that you have the agreement with, as with almost everything in life. Life is really for the ones with great social abilities, or at least the ones that advocate for themselves when it's needed. Being able to express your mind can save you from a lot of trouble. It doesn't matter what the situation is or what it involves. If you are able to speak for yourself and defend what you think is true and fair, life will be smoother for you.

In the story below, we find a renter who was living in horrible conditions due to the landlord's lack of help. This person was really trying to get the landlord to fix everything for herself. She gave her 3 months to fix the roof, you read me right, 3 MONTHS! And what did the landlord do? Absolutely nothing –oh, sorry, she did one thing: blame the renter for not being able to schedule, when the renter explained a million times that they weren't receiving an answer from the contractors she had hired. I do not know what this person expected this renter to do. Just live in awful conditions because it was cheaper for her than having to fix it? That is not how being a landlord works. There are laws, and you have to respect them. Not providing fixes for an apartment that is not in the correct condition is against the law.

Luckily enough, this story had a pretty happy ending. This renter was smart enough to advocate for themself. They got the city involved, and an inspector came to the apartment to check it out. They discovered a lot more things that were wrong with the apartment, so now this person will get to live in a place that is 100% up to code, all while getting it fixed by the annoying landlord. She should have just fixed the roof. It would have cost a lot less money. 

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  • 01
    A few months ago I noticed the paint on the ceiling in our bathroom was starting to peel in our new apartment. In general, asking my landlord to address things hasn't gone as smooth as I'd like and this was no different. The paint got progressively worse until it was falling in bits and pieces on the floor. It's like the ventilation fan doesn't really do anything and the moisture is making the new paint come off in huge chunks. I have had a lot of bad landlords thanks to the slumlord issue in my
    via ctoberflavor
  • 02
    An apartment in awful condition and unable to live in.
    via Adem Percem

    An apartment in awful condition and unable to live in.

     

  • 03
    like this needs to get done. I'm not dealing with a slumlord though, just an out state owner of the home we rent who doesn't necessarily like us bothering her. I get it. So I went ahead and took the timeline she legally has to fix the issue (21 days), multiplied it by 3 to be super patient and rounded up to 3 months. In those 3 months, the contractors she said would come failed to show up a whopping 6 times and she started blaming me for not being able to plan with them even after I showed her t
    via ctoberflavor
  • 04
    come out and do the repair. I work from home, the issue was not my availability to let someone into the unit. Finally, at 3 months and some change, I asked her if the repairs were ever going to get done and dropped the hint that I knew the legality of these things by mentioning our city's code enforcement offices. I've used them before, they've helped tremendously and put fines on the landlord when they don't fix things after they inspect the unit and tell them to get it together. I showed her t
    via ctoberflavor
  • 05
    that she was well outside of the 21 days she's given for defective paint. Her response surprised me. She said "That is not relevant to me. File your claim with the city." I responded "Oh ok." It took about 5 minutes to fill out the form on the website and about an hour before I got a call scheduling an inspector to come out and take a look. I genuinely have no clue why a landlord would welcome one of these inspections. If you're guessing the inspector took a look around and found way more than j
    via ctoberflavor
  • 06
    so right. They found a fire alarm that wasn't working, took note of the garbage around the property, and found windows that were boarded up in the basement that needed to be real windows to satisfy the city's 'at least 2 real windows in basements' rule or whatever. While we were down in the basement I figured I'd ask the inspector about our breaker. A few weeks ago, my upstairs neighbor had the power go out in one of her rooms. She asked us to turn our breaker off and on to see if that would wor
    via ctoberflavor
  • 07
    like this needed to be a phone call to the utility company. Well, I can make a phone call! The electric company scheduled someone within 2 days to come out and take a look and whaddya know? The wires are way more mixed than we thought. My upstairs neighbor has been paying for the basement and the kitchen AND bathroom in my unit. I have been paying for the entire top floor of her apartment. I didn't know it but it turns out that, when this happens, the landlord has 21 days to have a licensed elec
    via ctoberflavor
  • 08
    apartments legally goes into her name. All I needed was the peeling paint fixed but now I'm going to enjoy living in a unit that is entirely 100% up to code and maybe save some money in the process. Sounds good to me!
    via ctoberflavor
  • 09
    A neighborhood seen from the top.
    via Avi Waxman

    A neighborhood seen from the top.

  • 10
    JerryVand Depending on your state laws, paying for electricity used by another unit or by a common area could mean that the landlord is responsible for paying back any electricity costs back to when you moved in. You might want to do some research on your local laws.
    via JerryVand
  • 11
    xamomax I had a similar issue with my condo builder. I asked them to come investigate some nail heads that were wicking moisture, since things were still on warranty. They didn't respond so I asked my HOA to get involved. They sent an inspector and found all sorts of things wrong, so they inspected more condos. It turned into a 6 million dollar lawsuit that we won. This, BTW is also a positive example of what a healthy Homeowners Association is all about.
    via xamomax
  • 12
    kos-or-kosm just an out state owner of the home we rent who doesn't necessarily like us bothering her. I get it. I don't get it. If she doesn't want to be bothered, then sell the d n house.
    via kos-or-kosm
  • 13
    SilentYinGuy Telling a tenant to call code enforcement when your building has crossed wiring, broken alarms, and boarded-up basement windows is peak landlord hubris. She basically dared the city to audit her entire property over some peeling paint.
    via SilentYinGuy
  • 14
    Swordofsatan666 OP, you should start for looking for somewhere else to live. Youre happy youre getting the place fixed, but you dont realize shes likely going to do whatever she can to get you out now. Prepare for h_l. Start planning a way out.
    via Swordofsatan666
  • 15
    Upset Turn 1350 This is absolutely why we need to tax the f out of people who own houses that they don't live in, especially if they are living out of state. The state should revoke her ability to own and rent that house, put it out to the local market for someone to buy.
    via Upset Turn 1350
  • 16
    annaflixion D n, that's awesome. Good for you! I work for attorneys and I've never rented from a home owner, but I have had good results in having my attorneys address my issues with Greystar and other sucky management companies. At one, they had a gutter spout draining RIGHT NEXT to my driver's side door. I told them several times they needed to move it that winter because the water was icing over and creating a hockey rink between myself and my car. They "couldn't do anything about that" to al
    via annaflixion
  • 17
    turned it over to the attorney and he got me triple back because it was easy to prove they around. were
    via annaflixion

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landlord malicious compliance renter condition apartment
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