..Was it a city AHJ or a housing authority inspector? We have them here for section 8 inspections, sometimes require things above the code, like an ungrounded outlet you can't just put in a gfi, you have to run a ground.
..This was the Town wiring inspector, not an inspector from the Housing Authority. I've run into housing and health regulations/ codes that require more than is required by the NEC.
Our Housing inspectors also fail GFCI's protection of 2-wire cables, demanding grounding wire. The culprits are municipal inspectors, hired on behalf of section 8 housing authorities, with multiple layers of immunity from appeals.
These inspectors terrorize property owners right into arms of dirt-bag contractors, who charge thousands in unnecessary remodel construction. The response of private-property owners behind the Orange curtain (Orange county, CA), is to stop accepting HUD & section 8 vouchers.
Gulf-War veterans are the casualties of this exploit, since their Housing vouchers expire before finding a property. Some private holdouts still taking HUD are already occupied in Orange county. A small public-housing compound remains in Anaheim, but the last private owners opening new Housing vouchers are down to a few retirement communities, exclusively for age 62 & over.
Complaints about Housing inspectors are still raised at our Orange Empire IAEI meetings, where the education chair & senior municipal planner tries to describe all the barriers for appeal, which are never successful.
Jurisdiction is the first barrier to appeal:
Inspection agents hired by State or Federal Housing authorities are not subject to the NEC, nor GFCI's per 406.4(D)(2) replacement code, unless Housing Authorities are specifically included by local or State laws.
Neither is IAEI, their education chair, nor municipal planners legally allowed share copies of any such laws, without being subject to prosecution from private publishers. The critical laws regarding jurisdiction are hidden behind proprietary firewalls, searchable only by appellate attorneys, and those with access to private-legal databases, such as the old Lexis Nexis.
Bureaucracy Delays are another barrier to appeal:
Property owners trying to appeal unnecessary construction, and remodel contractors --imposed by Housing inspectors-- can get their occupancy revoked, waiting months to find out if any AHJ, much less any court is willing to hear the case.
Every one of my clients surrendered to this exploit, after getting screwed by these jerks that carefully avoid specific-contractor recommendation, since a conflict of interest would breach their Vail of immunity. Good luck if you decide to appeal.
