Another washer dryer question

[Marci Stein]

My (excellent ) tenant moved in 8 years ago, has never been late with the rent.

The rental came with a washer dryer in the basement and I told her they are a courtesy -  I would not replace them if they broke and now they have. 

 when she moves out, would it be best to, ask her to replace them with another pair of used machines that work or just take the loss. They were old but functional. thanks for all thoughts. 

[JD Martin]

You didn't provide the units, so why would you think it would be OK to ask the tenant to provide replacements? 

When I say you didn't provide the units, from a rental standpoint what that means is that you repair, maintain and replace any hard systems that come with the home. If you provide a refrigerator, if it breaks through age or no fault of the tenant, it's your responsibility to replace it. In this case, someone left a laundry set behind and you didn't provide it - you told them they could use it if they liked while it was there at their own risk and were not included in the rental. They used them and eventually they broke. It's like they never existed. 

In any case, I find the strategy short-sighted. Years ago we did not provide laundry units to tenants, and found that when tenants had to move their own units in and out, they damaged floors, walls, cabinets, hooked the units up wrong, didn't properly install wiring or dryer venting, etc. So we decided to include laundry units on every unit as they became vacant, add $50 on top of the rent to cover the units. I think I've had to replace one washer and one dryer in the last 3 or 4 years. We buy basic units, American made, no frills. They're easy to maintain, repair, and have good longevity. And the extra rent more than covers the cost of replacing a unit even every year. Meanwhile we have them installed by our professionals, properly, and with good quality laundry hoses and dryer vents.