St. Louis, MO · Member since 2013 · 50 posts · 5 votes
Do any of you guys charge tenants for maintenance request that end up being their fault?
i.e. - garbage disposal broken but you find out its because they accidentally dropped a shot glass down it, having to cable out a drain and find that its their hair and mess that caused it, etc.
If so, what other items do you charge for and how much do you charge?
For me, my response to these types of situations have a lot of variables. Are they new tenants- then I would lean toward billing them. If they have been my tenants with few problems in the past 10 years I would probably eat it. If I don't like them- I lean toward billing them. For me this is a people business and I try to put people and the circumstances into consideration. I don't want to run my business like the IRS- only paying attention to the bottom line. My tenants are my customers and if they are good customers I want to work with them- not against them. Just my opinion.
This is why I remove garbage disposals. Once you get called that it's not working only to find it full of chicken bones, you learn that they're not necessary.
Grid drains on bathroom sinks are a great idea too. Keeps the drain from filling with hair, toothpaste caps, toothbruskes, razor covers, etc.
For me, my response to these types of situations have a lot of variables. Are they new tenants- then I would lean toward billing them. If they have been my tenants with few problems in the past 10 years I would probably eat it. If I don't like them- I lean toward billing them. For me this is a people business and I try to put people and the circumstances into consideration. I don't want to run my business like the IRS- only paying attention to the bottom line. My tenants are my customers and if they are good customers I want to work with them- not against them. Just my opinion.
I definitely charge for any service calls or repairs that are the result of straight up tenant neglect. The way I am able to do this is that I use a lease addendum which contains more specific paragraphs on each topic (some people bake it into their lease, but i use a state specific lease that allows an addendum). I have a paragraph on cleaning fees ($200 min carpet cleaning fee) that would result if the carpet was stained following moved out (I always have the carpet cleaned prior to move-in and expect it to be in the same cleaned conditon at move-out. You can only have this expectation if its spelled out in your lease and its agreed upon by the tenant ). I have a section about lockouts and how I charge $20 between 8-6 m-f, and $30 all other times. I have a section on drain stoppages that cite that anything besides that caused by defective plumbing, tree roots, or acts of God will be the responsibility of the tenant and contains a list of the obvious of what not to put in the drain and that tenant agrees to pay plumbing cost to clear stoppages beside the above. Coincidentally, your tenant damage issue, while not requiring a special lease addendum to charge for tenant neglect, is covered by my paragraph on drain stoppages:)
95% if the tenant caused the problem then they pay the price. Sometimes if they are new "house" tenants than I will eat something because I want them to care to call. For example, once they called saying the refrigeratior wasn't working right because it was making weird noises. Well, it was the ice makers, working properly :)
On the other hand if they destroy it maliciously or because they don't care/take care of the property I pursue the damage to the fullest extent of my abilities.
wow! I can't say that I've seen any language in the lease agreement that my PM uses which would indicate that the tenants pay for small stuff like this. How's that written in your agreements? guess I'll have to re-read mine (my PM's that is - who's days are numbered).
I really thought I had a good grasp of this landlord business before I even hired my first PM - 6 months ago! Guess I need to go back to the books!