Bummer. We haven't even moved in yet. I wonder what other surprises await us!

It looks like that could be brought up to code pretty easily by adding a pancake box. OTOH, it's waving its little red "ignorant DIY wiring" flag at you, so you're right to wonder what other shortcuts may lurk behind the walls and above the ceilings.

I'm not sure this is wrong. I have installed ceiling lights with multiple bulbs. Each bulb had it's own hot/neutral. the wires were not long enough to install in the box.

the wires were not long enough to install in the box.

But there WAS a box, right? That's the difference here. I don't think there's a box.

Nope no box. Romex coming out of a little hole in the wall, the wire nuts were stuffed into the base of the pendant light. There are 3 of them, I imagine the other two are like this as well but after seeing this one I needed to step away for a bit. :P

It needs a box. The NM cable must be clamped inside a box.

There is one example of that being code compliant. Lighting over a sink in a bath can be done by code with just the wire sticking out of the wall.

That example is not, as all have said, code complaint.

Lighting over a sink in a bath can be done by code with just the wire sticking out of the wall.

I'm pretty sure you're mistaken there or leaving out a big caveat to that statement (like the wiring is low voltage or something).

Or I believe there are certain light fixtures (those fluorescent tube ones come to mind) where there is an enclosed section WITHIN the fixture that can be used in place of a junction box in the wall. Basically, the junction box is built into the fixture.

But both of those examples have nothing to do with the location within the house.

And electrical considerations aside, the fixture strap seems to be screwed into sheetrock. Unless they're very lightweight, you're lucky nobody got knocked on the head by the falling pendant while doing the dishes.

I'd like to know what this thing is attached to. I'm willing to bet those screws go directly into a joist above. If so, you could remove that stuff and use a pancake box. It would require cutting the sheetrock, and maybe saving the metal piece with the long 'bolts' for attaching the fixture.

They are drywall screws without any anchor so I assume they are directly into the joist. Going to investigate further next week and find out more. The whole reason I found this out is because we are changing the fixtures out. So I will be installing pancake boxes for the new fixtures for sure.

Every light or ceiling fan we ever switched out ourselves had the wires sticking out that we had to disconnect the old fixture and reconnect the new fixture wires to. No box. I do not know code so I won't answer if what you show is up to code. It is my understanding that all junctions in the electric lines must be in a box. lafdr