This is something you should have noticed and brought up BEFORE you signed the lease. Now you are stuck with the lease. You can get a small adapter to put between the box and cover to hide the gap. Offer to pay a higher rent to account for the increase in her bill due to wasted energy from the gap. However, a gap adapter may help with that as well. Talk to her about installing them.

With a lease, it does not matter if there is no company or property management team. I have rented from private owners. The law does not care.

You are bound by a one year lease. You might want to inspect the outlets in the next place you look at. Meanwhile, I have no idea of electrical codes or safety.

OF course she can care about bills she pays. She will get an attitude if you do not respect her. Human. Tread carefully when you deal with humans.

It might be worthwhile having someone look at it and get an estimate, and pay them. You will probably get nowhere with this owner, who rented it as is. You saw it, you rented it. People have been living there. Older homes were built before current safety standards were developed.

Unless you can prove (very difficult) that this makes the house a hazard or is in violation of some local code, you will owe the full years rent. I've seen Electrical Box Extenders on Amazon that you might be able to install yourself to cover the gap.

You can buy extra large plates that will cover the gaps.

I would prefer answers from people the understand the legal side of renting from a person not affiliated with a real estate office. If it makes a difference I reside in Kansas. I signed a 12 month lease for an older home. The electrical is not grounded, normally I would not have an issue my last house is the same. So I started situating the home this weekend and noticed every signal outlet is loose, the receptor and the plate. My first action was to take the plate off and I tightened the receptor put the plate back on ensuring the plate was tight as well. Once done there was a huge gap between the receptor and the plate. I tried using them and the plugs fall right out and the plug in the living room started sparking. I went to hardware store for advice and they said the receptors need to be replaced and the box is probably set in it needs to fixed the the receptor and the plate are flush. I talked to my landlord and she had a serious attitude with me and said the box was pushed back to save on the air conditioning bill. I told her I didn't care about the bill because I have to special needs children and the gap was an invite to stick things in there and I wanted it flush. My question is if she refuses to fix it what are my options for moving out with a 12 month lease? Would I have to owe her a years worth of rent to break the lease?