Imagine signing the paperwork to move into a new apartment, but while you’re there, you notice something that really needs to be repaired. If you were told the HOA wouldn’t fix it, would you accept it, find a workaround, or find a way to convince the HOA to fix it?

In this story, one couple is in this exact situation, and they know just what to do!

Keep reading for all the details.

They won’t replace it unless…

My hubby and I were looking for a new place to live a while back, and we found a great condo/apartment with a super sweet property manager, so we decided to apply for it.

Once we were selected, we went to the place again to sign the paperwork.

This particular apartment was on the second floor above a row of garages, so our stairs (made of wood) were on the outside of the building.

They noticed a big problem.

We noticed that the top stair had a huge obvious crack going right down the middle lengthwise.

Both pieces of wood were still hanging on and you could still put pressure on it, but we still didn’t necessarily want to be moving all our crap up the stairs and wonder whether it was going to break.

We brought this up with our manager, and he said with a heavy sigh that since it was on the outside of our apartment, it was the HOA’s responsibility and that it was hard to convince them to spend any money.

The property manager gave them a tip.

Then he looked us square in the eyes and said the only way they’d replace it is if it were completely broken.

We took the hint.

As we were preparing to move in my hubby stamped on the step extremely hard and broke it completely, immediately calling our manager to report it.

The HOA replaced it within two days.

As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. So, in this case, that means, break it so you can get it fixed.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

They would certainly be lucky!

Another person loves the story.

It is rare.

One person is reminded of an episode of a sitcom.

When you know what it takes, things can get fixed quickly!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.