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Rewiring light fixtures in an apartment rental
Talka
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I’m trying to replace all the lighting in my home with color-changing Alexa-enabled smart lighting. I’ve replaced all the lighting that required straightforward lightbulb swaps. However, there are seven light fixtures in my home that don’t use standard light sockets. Three are hanging halogen bulbs with bi-pin connectors, two are circular fluorescent ceiling tubes, and two are overhead fluorescent bulbs.
I’m pretty ignorant about lightbulbs and electrical wiring, so I probably described those incorrectly.
Furthermore, I live in an apartment rental that’s professionally managed. It's a high-rise whose boilerplate lease prohibits alterations: “Unless authorized by statute or by us in writing, you must not perform any repairs, painting, wallpapering, carpeting, electrical changes, or otherwise alter our property.”
So how do I proceed? Specifically:
I’m pretty ignorant about lightbulbs and electrical wiring, so I probably described those incorrectly.
Furthermore, I live in an apartment rental that’s professionally managed. It's a high-rise whose boilerplate lease prohibits alterations: “Unless authorized by statute or by us in writing, you must not perform any repairs, painting, wallpapering, carpeting, electrical changes, or otherwise alter our property.”
So how do I proceed? Specifically:
- How risky is it for me to ignore my lease and proceed with these alterations? Friends I’ve talked to say they’ve ignored similar clauses in their own leases. But am I at risk of pissing off my landlord if they see the alterations? I’m fine making the alternations now and rewiring them again when I move out. But what if my landlord enters my apartment and sees the alterations? What actions could they takes against me, and how likely are they to do so? Will asking for permission hurt or help my cause?
- Is it even possible to rewire these fixtures? I’m clueless about how to proceed but suspect I could either a) figure it out from YouTube tutorials, or b) hire an electrician or handy-man to make the alterations for me. However, that assumes the alterations are possible in the first place. Is it safe to make these alterations? Are there fire concerns if the wiring isn’t intended for my use case?
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Edit: Thought you had those trash incandescent pin sockets.
it's not even a matter of getting away with it. it's a matter of personal safety, the security of having a roof over your head, and respect.
Definitely this.
Step one is to send your landlord an email detailing what fixtures you want to swap out and what replacement fixtures you want to swap in. It shouldn't take too long, and getting the response in writing means they can't ding your deposit for this when you leave.
If you're not confident on your wiring skill, definitely include in that letter to the landlord that you're looking to hire a professional to do the work, possibly ask if they can recommend an electrician.
It may be easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission, but it's likely to cost you in the long run if/when the landlord sees your alterations.
The wiring itself shouldn't be too complex really. It doesn't sound like you're planning on redoing the switches or anything.
You'd want to turn the circuit breaker off that feeds the lights, then pull the old fixtures.
Black wire goes to black wire, white wire goes to white wire, ground goes to ground.
But, like Michael said, it's not hard but if you screw it up the price of failure is going to be substantially higher than the cost of hiring an electrician.
Are you able to add floor/table lamps in the rooms in question? That might work better.
For example shelving. I will shelve up a closet, and when I do, I just make sure to match the shelves the apartment provided (usually wire shelving). Since it's an upgrade I don't have to remove them.
The lighting in this, it is hard to sell them on the upgrade. Lighting fixtures are the easiest of electrical to do. I don't have a problem having a carpenter or general Handyman handle fixture change outs as long as it is a switch with like, and the breaker is off. Don't work on a hot line.
So for the OP. It's time consuming and a gamble. If you get caught they could violate your lease. Also if you don't get caught you will have to keep the old fixtures, store them, and then reinstall them when you are ready to leave.
Think of it as borrowing your friend's car. If you borrowed their car for a weekend, and decided you wanted to get it repainted, or switch out a part in the engine, or remove the stereo they had for one that worked with your phone rather than the owner's outdated iPod, how pissed off do you think the friend would be when they got the car back?
Were I your landlord and I "discoverd" you "got away" with changing the wiring in my house without my permission I would likely pursue you to the maximum degree the law would allow me.
and if its somewhat old, you can screw it up and rain burning pitch down onto yourself/carpet which almost happened in my basement.
Ask your landlord/landlord company
They'll give you the green light or not.
And even if they do, I would argue its not worth it. You're upgrading someone else's place. They won't pay you for this work and if something goes wrong you'll be liable to fix it.
Or maybe they do an inspection, or someone doing random maintenance happens to notice and you get your deposit eaten, or even get slapped with a breach of your rental contract which could result in your lease being terminated.
You can send a message to your rental office to ask, but it's pretty much going to be a given that they are almost certainly going to say no. But if they amazingly do say yes, they will most certainly not let you do it yourself and would want their own guys to do it, or proof that a licensed electrician would be doing it (for their insurance and liability).