Roofing Leak and Tenants Unhappy

Roofing Leak and Tenants Unhappy

Member since 2021 · 132 posts · 37 votes

Hey everyone, I manage a large home that's roughly 4500 sqft and the tenants just moved in last month. The owner lives in a different country so it's quit difficult to reach him on moments notice. We've had a lot of rain recently and the tenants told me one of the rooms had 6-7 small leaks and have put down buckets. They also noted a separate room has started to leak. So I contacted the owner and let them know of this. At the same time I've had 3 roofing companies come out and see if they can repair it but due to it being an older home and double layered shingles they all said they'd have to replace the whole roof. All three of the estimates have been 21-23k. The owner doesn't want to pay this and wants to come fix it himself in about a month or two. So my only option was to have someone put a couple of tarps over the house to temporarily solve this. The tenants are very unhappy about this considering they're paying a lot per month. What would happen in this case is there anything I can do more or could they tenants break the lease due to the issue not getting resolved? Any ideas for feedback would help. 

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Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
4y

You're the property manager and you need to make it clear to the owner that 3 professional roofing companies said the roof is beyond repair and waiting for him to come back to this country and attempt a half-assed repair job is not acceptable. If he doesn't budge, offer the tenants to break the lease and resign as the property manager. Sorry, but you should not associate yourself with owners who refuse to make repairs to make the house habitable. 

And tenants should not have to wait a month or two for a roof leak to be looked at and them attempted to be fixed. If a property manager/landlord told me that, I'd take the buckets away and let the water damage the inside of the place. 

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  • Member since 2021 · 132 posts · 37 votes
    4y

    @Drew Sygit Thanks for the feedback, you're probably right about using tar or some cheap way of solving it himself. 2/3 of the companies sent me pictures and a 4 page long document stating the issues along with pictures and then a detailed list of what would be needed. The main reason they would have to replace the entire roof was due to it being double layered already. They noted that because the leaks are randomly happening throughout the house sooner or later more will likely come. 

  • Member since 2021 · 132 posts · 37 votes
    4y

    @Jonathan R McLaughlin Yes I have a feeling they purchased this house for good deal since they knew who the seller was and never inspected it very well. While these tenants are paying a lot they don't seem like the type to go to the city or lawyer since all they have been doing is complaining. Yes adding tarps was just temporary as it's been raining a few days a week here and wanted to do something in the meantime to help. In most cases then yeah the tenants would stop paying until the issues gets resolved or something similar but the tenants actually paid 3 months upfront so that's kind of on them. All the messages are on text or email so I have been doing that thankfully. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    4y

    chasing after leaks is harder than it sounds...and its quite possible someone (especially an amateur) will just reroute the water to another point that will soon fail. Thats another reason the bigger companies don't repair....too thankless and doubtful.

  • Greg WeikBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Denver, CO · Member since 2020 · 263 posts · 327 votes
    4y
    Quote from @Greg M.:

    You're the property manager and you need to make it clear to the owner that 3 professional roofing companies said the roof is beyond repair and waiting for him to come back to this country and attempt a half-assed repair job is not acceptable. If he doesn't budge, offer the tenants to break the lease and resign as the property manager. Sorry, but you should not associate yourself with owners who refuse to make repairs to make the house habitable. 

    And tenants should not have to wait a month or two for a roof leak to be looked at and them attempted to be fixed. If a property manager/landlord told me that, I'd take the buckets away and let the water damage the inside of the place. 

    Just posting this again because it's the right answer.  PM already did his due diligence and legwork, and you have to be able to fire clients who do not share your ethics.   #gregwisdom  

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