A landlady in New Haven, Connecticut, allegedly challenged the wrong tenant over a complaint about peeling paint that hadn’t been addressed for weeks. “That is not relevant to me. File your claim with the city,” is what she told her renter, which was ironically her last mistake. Reddit user Octoberflavor, the tenant in question, gladly accepted her landlady’s dare and did just that: report the issue straight to the city.
Things did not go as planned for the landlady. “I genuinely have no clue why a landlord would welcome one of these inspections,” remarked Octoberflavor. The inspector who later arrived to check the peeling paint in the bathroom found more than just one problem.
The Connecticut City Inspector Found A Lot More Than Just Peeling Paint
Octoberflavor says they found a malfunctioning fire alarm, garbage around the property, and windows boarded up to bypass the city’s regulations. That wasn’t all; the inspector recommended that the utility company examine the apartment’s breaker and wiring. Lo and behold, “the wires are way more mixed than we thought,” wrote Octoberflavor.
Apparently, the upstairs neighbor had been paying for the electricity from rooms in Octoberflavor’s unit, and she had been paying for this neighbor’s entire top floor. Now, the landlady allegedly has 21 days to have a licensed electrician fix everything before she’s made legally responsible for both renters’ entire electrical bill.
Octoberflavor having the last laugh was quite the delight for plenty of Redditors in the comments. “Good karma you tried to be more than reasonable,” expressed a user. “It was indeed very relevant to her,” chuckled a second user. “Your landlord isn’t very bright,” added a third. “I love stories like this,” wrote a fourth.
A few other people urged OP to consider moving out soon, considering the landlady might not take too kindly to being forced to cooperate by the city. That said, based on her additional comments, Octoberflavor seems more focused on dealing with the current problems than looking for another place. “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!” she exclaimed.
She concluded, hoping others would follow in her footsteps: “I hope my experience helps people see that you could be one quick phone call away from getting help.”
