A lot of paints can be removed without damaging a metal surface. Sometimes things happen and if it can be made to look like new that should be allowed.

Thanks all. It’s a sloppy overspray allover the grates. It’s almost as if a child was given the spray paint and asked to pain the grates but was stopped in time before all of it became white.

Again. What kind of paint? How much overspray? Where did the paint end up?

Pictures may help as context is key.

The law (varies by state) but "Right to Cure" does not mean that a homeowner is required to use the same contractor to make the repair. Get an attorney involved if the money is significant and if you have good reason to not want that contractor to make the proposed repair.

It's overspray, without context we have zero way of knowing how bad or simple fix it is. Right now it is all but next to impossible to offer much with no context.

I spray painted some discolored grates with high temperature black spray paint a number of years back so they would look normal.

If it’s latex, it might be cleaned with rubbing alcohol or baby oil. Test small area first!

Put the grates in the dw and run the pots and pans cycle.

You are making a mountain out of a molehill. This is no big deal at all. Most latex comes off easily. Most other comes off with the proper solvent. A set if grates isn’t even expensive, if it comes down to that. But it shouldn’t.