It’s scary to hear stories of buildings collapsing because the building owners want to save some money and cut corners where it can’t be done. You never know which project will be next to reveal itself to be faulty or executed neglectfully. Usually all of this isn’t public knowledge and it comes to the light of day only when a tragedy occurs.
Structural flaws are harder to notice, but when an AC doesn’t work even though it has been installed not that long ago, it is very obvious, especially during summer. That is what tipped Redditor MysteriousTeaching30 off when searching for a legal reason to be able to exit a 5-year-long lease and that led to a revelation that the building company didn’t even have a permit from the city.
More info: Reddit
The OP tells a story of how he got a building his company didn't want to rent anymore condemned because of how faulty it was
The Original Poster (OP) is an IT guy for a company that was moving its remote site to a new building. He was asked to go there and take a look at it, so he went on an 8-hour journey with his 4 boxes of cat6 plenum cable.
MysteriousTeaching30 estimated that the job would take him a few days to complete, but it was messy work because the building was nearly finished and the cables were meant to go into the ceiling.
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
So the IT guy went to the place and started working. Nothing suspicious, everyone was doing what they needed to do until they started to realize the AC wasn’t working. The temperature reached 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) by noon and 85 (29 degrees Celsius) by 3 PM.
People were starting to feel like tomatoes in a greenhouse with those big windows from floor to bottom, so they tried to figure out what the deal was. They found that there were still workers on the site, which meant the building wasn’t completed and not ready to be handed over. And it turned out that 3 weeks earlier, there hadn't been any AC in the building.
The OP was asked to do some work at the new building as he was the IT guy
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
The building was supposed to be finished, but there were still workers there and the AC was not working, which was important as the temperatures were high
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
On the second day, it was even worse because the heat had already started in the morning. The facility manager that came with the IT guy was trying to reach out to people who could fix the AC. And the OP himself found a huge hole in the ducting when he removed a ceiling tile.
He said the hole was 4 feet wide, which is a little bit over a meter, and that’s a pretty big opening. Weirdly enough, the AC seemed to be on, but MysteriousTeaching30 couldn’t feel cold air blowing. Later they were told that the compressor was broken.
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
When the repairmen finally came, the OP found out that they did a cheap fix and on top of that lied about it in the report
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
On the third day, the IT professional was almost done with his job. While he was working, the people who fix conditioners came to investigate the matter. After a few hours they were about to leave but others were curious to know what was wrong with the unit.
The AC guys didn’t give a straight answer and excused themselves by saying they couldn’t tell the tenants what the problem was, which raised many suspicions.
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
It wasn’t for no reason, because after reading the report on what was done to fix the AC, the OP quickly realized that they'd lied and done a quick fix with duct tape which wouldn’t hold for long. And while they were fixing it, they damaged the fire sprinklers.
Moreover, in some areas in the building there was no running water, workers were still on site, and the AC was not helping with the heat. The employees who were there couldn’t take it anymore and just left.
Other problems surfaced, like no running water in some areas, no fire alarms and fire panels, and of course, the AC was not cooling the air
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
That is not all: while 'repairing' the AC, the workers actually damaged the fire sprinklers
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
The company didn't want that building anymore, but the landlord was not letting them off the lease that was signed for 5 years
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
Then the company decided to end the lease with the landlord because they were not willing to take the risk and move to a building that had so many problems. They informed the landlord that the building wasn’t finished and they were walking away from it.
However, the landlord wasn’t going to let the company out of the lease so easily. The corporate lawyer and the realtor also agreed that there was nothing they could do to help end the 5 year contract.
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
Desperately searching for ways out, the OP learned that the landlord didn't even have a permit to do anything
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
So the OP started inspecting the building to find a serious hazard that they could report. He found that there were no fire panels or smoke detectors in their part of the building. But what put the nail in the coffin was when one of the employees just put their observation out there. And it was that there weren’t any building permits anywhere.
It was a fantastic revelation that allowed the company to call the city inspector’s office and ask if there actually weren’t any permits. It’s hard to believe, but that was the case. To fuel the fire, the facilities manager suggested checking the fire system too. Which meant fire marshals were called to the site.
When the building inspector called the fire marshals, the game reached its end and the building was condemned
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
The OP's company is sure that they will win this case and will be compensated for all the troubles and wasted time
Image credits: MysteriousTeaching30
As one of the Redditors explained in the comments, fire marshals are the people that nobody can argue with and they will not negotiate on anything. They immediately condemned the whole building and now the company has the legal right to end the lease even though the landlord is still fighting them over it.
The company lawyer thinks that they will definitely win the case and will have to compensate for the time and effort employees put into the building. People in the comments were applauding the OP for such clean revenge and now we would like to hear from you what your thoughts are.
People in the comments were impressed with how cleanly this was all executed and were satisfied that justice was served
