[oh] The Circuit Breakers For My Apartment Are Inside My Neighbor's Locked Apartment. My Landlord Says This Is Our Problem To Work Out.

location: Ohio

I rent an upstairs apartment in an older house that was converted into four separate units. I've lived here for about eight months.

Last Thursday, half the outlets in my kitchen stopped working. I checked everywhere for a breaker panel and couldn't find one, so I called my landlord.

He told me the electrical panel for my unit is actually inside the downstairs apartment.

I thought he meant a shared utility closet.

Nope. It's literally inside my neighbor's pantry.

Apparently when the house was converted, nobody moved the original panel. Some of the breakers control my apartment, and the rest control his.

My landlord told me to knock downstairs and ask my neighbor to reset the breaker.

Problem is, my neighbor works nights and wasn't home. His apartment was locked, obviously.

I ended up spending almost 16 hours without power to several kitchen outlets before he got home and let me inside.

He was nice about it but clearly annoyed. He said this has happened with previous upstairs tenants too, and he's tired of people needing access to his apartment.

I asked the landlord what happens if a breaker trips while the neighbor is away for several days.

His exact response was, "That's why it's important to have a good relationship with your neighbors."

I asked whether he could have the panel relocated somewhere accessible to both apartments.

He said the building passed inspection years ago and he's not spending thousands of dollars fixing something that isn't broken.

But this seems like an actual safety issue, not just an inconvenience.

What if something electrical starts malfunctioning and I need to shut off power immediately? Or the downstairs tenant goes on vacation?

I don't think it's reasonable for either of us to depend on another tenant's availability to access our own electrical circuits.

Is this potentially a housing or electrical code violation in Ohio? Would the local building department be the right place to request an inspection?

I'm current on rent, have a written lease, and have saved the messages where my landlord acknowledges the panel's location.

I'm not trying to get my neighbor in trouble or force my way into his apartment. I just want a way to access the electrical equipment serving my unit without needing permission from someone who doesn't even have to be home.