Appreciation post: my landlord finally covered the hole in my ceiling after 7 weeks, but here is the trick that got him to move | Apartment Living Hacks - Free To Speak
Appreciation post: my landlord finally covered the hole in my ceiling after 7 weeks, but here is the trick that got him to move
So I live in a third floor walk up in Cleveland and about two months ago a pipe in the unit above me burst and water came pouring through my bathroom ceiling. I put a bucket under it and called the front office the same day. For 7 weeks nothing happened. I sent emails, I left voicemails, I even taped a photo of the sagging drywall to my rent check. Finally last Tuesday I looked up my city's rental code online, printed out the page about landlord duties for repairs, and mailed it to the office with a note saying I would call the building inspector on Friday if nobody came. A guy showed up Thursday morning with a patch kit and had it sealed in like 40 minutes. It was not a big dramatic fight, I just stopped being nice about it and put the rules in writing. If your landlord is dragging their feet, check if your city has a tenant hotline or a code enforcement number, it took me one Google search. What is the weirdest thing you have had to do to get a repair done?
Landlords count on you being too tired to look up the rules, same way bosses and cable companies do. Bureaucracy only moves when you show it you know the game better than they do.