One of the benefits of living in an apartment is that you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of the building. Unfortunately, that means you have to rely on the landlord to do proper upkeep.

What would you do if the ceiling of your apartment was cracking badly, and in one place it actually collapsed and had a hole in it, but the landlord and maintenance guy were moving very slowly with any repairs?

That is the situation that the girl in this story is in, and she felt unsafe, so she notified code enforcement to have it investigated. While the enforcement guy said she wasn’t likely in immediate danger, the building had some violations, which he cited the landlord for. Now, the landlord is upset, so she doesn’t know what to do.

While the situation is definitely awkward, that isn’t her fault. Read through the full story and see if you agree.

I feel guilty after calling code enforcement. Did I handle this situation poorly?

In my apartment I had a hole in my celing. It started as a crack, got worse, and then eventually the ceiling caved in.

Finding a schedule that works for everyone is hard, but this seems like an urgent issue.

Maintenance has been dragging their feet for 2 months to fix it. Part of it is my fault, I have to be there to let them in and I can’t always leave work or accommodate their schedule as they text at the most random times to come by.

Apparently, he does maintenance on the side while working full time, so our schedules don’t always align.

Why can’t the landlord let him into the apartment?

Still, though, its been frustrating because even when he does make it out, he just adds another later of mud to the ceiling, says it needs to dry, and then I have to go through the whole process again of finding and coordinating a time for him to come back, sometimes with him not even showing up.

There have been multiple visits to mud the area and then they say they will be back to finish sanding and painting and then it never happens or they add more mud.

Documenting the issue is a very smart move.

Throughout this 2 month process, I noticed a few additional cracks appearing in other areas of the apartment. I texted photos to the landlord and she tells me maintenance will come look.

But then they come, say they will take care of it next time, then just continue working on the original hole. At this point, I got frustrated and just started documenting everything and taking photos of the cracks, repairs, etc.

Is this apartment even safe to be in?

Finally, the last time the maintenance guy came, I took him around and showed him the other cracks and how they have been getting worse.

I showed him ones I saw in the hallway as well and asked if there was danger of another collapse. The crack that started this whole thing is similar to the ones I am seeing everywhere.

Can she trust the landlord on this?

I asked the landlord originally when she came to clean the mess after the hole if there was danger and she just said it was part of living in an old building and that things settle and cracks happen.

All other communications have been with maintenance and they tell me its just an old building too. I have lived in old buildings, though, and I just don’t feel like that is the issue. I’ve never seen anything like this before and have never had a ceiling collapse on me.

She is definitely doing the right thing here.

Fast forward a few more weeks and I see these cracks and bowing all over the place, even in the hallway and back staircase. I decided I am not going to get a straight answer from maintenance and know if I text the landlord, she will just tell me she will send maintenance and then the process repeats.

So, I called code enforcement. I only wanted to make sure that no one was in danger and wanted to see if there could be another collapse.

To nobody’s surprise, this place is a dangerous mess.

The code enforcement guy came and said it was very concerning and that this whole ceiling should have been replaced before I was moved in. He also noted that the original repair wasn’t done and the state the repairman left my living room in is ridiculous.

He pointed out that one of the cracks was in danger of collapsing, and he even found other issues with the building like the fire alarm in the hallway not working and the plug in my bathroom isn’t correct.

Oh, maybe it isn’t as dangerous as it sounded. Though it certainly isn’t completely safe.

The flooring in the hallway also contains asbestos. He asked if I wanted to cite the landlord and I said I wasn’t sure, and primarily just wanted to ensure safety.

He said no one is in immediate danger, but also said he can’t say for sure, the ceiling could hold out another 10 years or it could collapse tomorrow.

What does the landlord mean she didn’t know about it?

But he said that regardless, the landlord should be taking steps to fix the problem instead of chalking it up to being an old building and pushing it off. I was too anxious to decide and he said he would make the decision for me and violate her.

After he called her, I got a text from the maintenance guy that he would come do everything on Thursday and then I got a crappy message from my landlord saying I need to tell her things before reporting her to code enforcement because she can’t fix what she doesn’t know about.

She did nothing wrong.

But the thing is, I feel like I sent her pictures about the situation and she sends her repair guy and nothing gets done and the process repeats.

I don’t feel like either one were taking me seriously. But I also feel bad because I wasn’t trying to get her in trouble, I was just worried about my safety and the safety of other people in the building.

Breaking her lease isn’t a bad idea, as long as it doesn’t cost her too much.

Maybe I should have texted her more frequently before going to code enforcement? Idk, I am worried now about retaliation or things being awkward.

Did I handle the situation right? What should I do next? Part of me wants to break my lease but know it would be a headache.

Even if the situation isn’t immediately dangerous, it is still a mess and a hassle. The landlord and the maintenance guy weren’t taking it seriously, so she did the right thing in calling a third party to investigate.

Read on to see what the tenants in the comments have to say about this situation.

Here is someone who says not to let the landlord intimidate her.

She should start looking for a new place to live soon.

Landlords love to try to take security deposits.

The maintenance guy should have had this fixed long ago.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.

This commenter doesn’t think their lease will get renewed.

If the landlord didn’t want code enforcement called, she should have had these issues fixed promptly. If the issues weren’t a big deal, code enforcement wouldn’t have found violations.