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unsure whether wiring is safe in rented apartment — Brooklynian

unsure whether wiring is safe in rented apartment

I rent a unit in a pre-war building (which happens to be rent-stabilized). I have several fancy surge-protectors, and when I plug them in to the outlets in my apartment, they all report warnings about the wiring, supposedly indicating that the "hot" and "neutral" wires are reversed, which I've read is a serious safety hazard. The landlord told me they were fixing wiring problems before I moved in, but I'm guessing the job probably wasn't done right. What should I do?

Should I just tell the super? If he already approved the work that was done, then odds are that he'll just tell me everything is fine. Should I hire an independent electrician to inspect my place? I don't know enough about wiring to know if this situation is a violation of electrical code or perhaps just an inconvenience that I have to deal with at my own expense. Who's qualified to determine whether it's a violation of electrical code?

Incidentally, I love my apartment and want to stay here so I don't really want to piss my landlord off.

Comments

  • I'm pretty sure you should call 311 and report a potential building code violation if your land lord refuses to fix this. Are you friendly with any of your neighbors? Could you ask them if you can check the wiring in their units as well? But you really should press the land lord and super to fix it. About irking the landlord do you really want to live in a building owned by a landlord who ignores potentially major safety problems?

  • By the way you have renters insurance right?

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