Imagine moving into what seems like a really nice apartment, but then you start noticing some big issues. If the landlord wasn’t any help, would you escalate the situation to a city inspector?

In this story, one person is in that exact situation, and the landlord actually tells them to call the city inspector. I’m sure that landlord regrets saying that!

Keep reading for all the drama.

Our landlord told me ‘go ahead! call the city inspector’ so I did

This happened in 2018, I just moved to a new apartment. It was a three bedroom first floor apartment and it had a finished basement.

It had two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen on the first floor. It also had a bedroom (with a full bath) in the basement and a bar/gaming area.

It was also in a very nice area of the city. The apartment was owned by a corporation.

There was a big problem.

Honestly, we loved that apartment, until it kept having recurring issues in the basement. The carpet was wet from time to time.

At first the landlord would send a cleaner to come and handle it but it keeps happening.

I asked them to check and fix the issue.

They did not do it.

I told him I’ll call the city inspector to check the building.

They laughed at me and told me ‘go ahead, call the city inspector.’

So I did.

Here’s what happened when the city inspector paid a visit to the apartment.

I called the city twice until I finally was connected to the right department and they sent an inspector a week later.

The inspector found so many building violations. They told me they’d contact the building owner and would come again.

The next day, the owner called and begged me to tell them what I know about the problem with the apartment.

I told them that I sent complaints multiple times, they should check their record.

It was a really bad situation.

The city inspector, the owner and the property manager came two weeks after that.

The city inspector laid it to them, it was bad.

They have to deal with structural and foundational issues and some safety issues too.

There were 4 tenants in that building including us, imagine it was a big colonial/multi family home divided into four apartments. They had to break the lease with all of us to fix the building. They couldn’t fix it with us being there.

Time to call a lawyer.

We were ready and already consulted a lawyer, we told them that:

1. We want our deposit back before moving out

2. They paid for all of our moving expenses

3. They paid for our deposit at the next place

It was really bad for the landlord.

They could not kick us out. They could not rent the apartment after the inspections.

There were four of us and we could all sue them for placing us in a dangerous building.

In the end they spent so much money to relocate us and fix the apartment.

It’s crazy how what seemed like a great living situation at first got really, really bad so quickly.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person lived in a similar type of apartment.

Here’s what the landlord probably wanted to say…

There is an important lesson in this story.

This person seems to be taking this lesson to heart.

Safety is more important than a cute apartment.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.