Disabled veteran wants a new toilet

Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 0 votes

Tenant is a disabled veteran and is currently section 8. He is having back pain since the normal and functional toilet he has is too short. I informed him to contact the VA so they can give him a special raised seat. He wants me to install and pay for a new 17 inch toilet. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member

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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes

Landlords should accept reasonable accommodations for disabled people. Replacing a toilet is reasonable and inexpensive.

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Joe S.Pro Member
Investor · San Antonio · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Matt Bishop:

@Ricardo Cuartas, follow the Golden Rule. Treat each of your tenants ( customers) like they are your only customer. Keep your section 8 customers happy and the government checks coming in. Man up and take care of business. Appreciate your customers and you will prosper. Irritate a Section 8 tenant and they can get the housing authority to make your life hell. Take the high road.

The OP it appears opened his account for this particular post. If he was trolling folks made very good comments especially for the eyes of real estate investor haters.
Even if he wasn’t trolling the comments were appropriate for the setting in my opinion.
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Karen MargraveBusiness Member
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Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
4y
WOW! You told him to contact the VA over happily replacing his toilet, and saying thank you for your service? My advice, buy him a good toilet that's comfort height, and make a tiny part of his life more bearable. Comfort height toilets are preferred by most people disabled or not, so it won't hurt any tenant prospects in the future. You can never go wrong doing the right thing!
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Rodney Sums
Laveen, AZ · Member since 2016 · 584 posts · 528 votes
4y
Quote from @Karen Margrave:

WOW! You told him to contact the VA over happily replacing his toilet, and saying thank you for your service? My advice, buy him a good toilet that's comfort height, and make a tiny part of his life more bearable. Comfort height toilets are preferred by most people disabled or not, so it won't hurt any tenant prospects in the future. You can never go wrong doing the right thing!

Why Wow?
Referring a vet to the VA that's complaining of mobility issues, back pain, and having troubles transferring is a responsible thing to do. This person is a landlord not the tenant's doctor. They should not be called upon to resolve those types of issues independently. That tenant needs evaluation by a physician to assess what toileting needs they have. A higher toilet may not be enough. There are raised toilet seats that have guard rails. The toilet you're all chastising the OP about may not be adequate. If the tenant produces doctor orders with specific instructions perhaps then the landlord can consider buying that toilet out of kindness if not legally or contractually required.
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JD MartinBusiness Member
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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Rodney Sums:

Quote from @Karen Margrave:

WOW! You told him to contact the VA over happily replacing his toilet, and saying thank you for your service? My advice, buy him a good toilet that's comfort height, and make a tiny part of his life more bearable. Comfort height toilets are preferred by most people disabled or not, so it won't hurt any tenant prospects in the future. You can never go wrong doing the right thing!

Why Wow?
Referring a vet to the VA that's complaining of mobility issues, back pain, and having troubles transferring is a responsible thing to do. This person is a landlord not the tenant's doctor. They should not be called upon to resolve those types of issues independently. That tenant needs evaluation by a physician to assess what toileting needs they have. A higher toilet may not be enough. There are raised toilet seats that have guard rails. The toilet you're all chastising the OP about may not be adequate. If the tenant produces doctor orders with specific instructions perhaps then the landlord can consider buying that toilet out of kindness if not legally or contractually required.

I get what you are saying here but the OP is overcomplicating this. A chair height toilet costs $100. Maybe another $100-150 to install depending on where you are, if you don't want to do it yourself. Everyone can use a chair height toilet. For $200 he gets a new toilet put in that is probably more water efficient anyway than what he has and has new jets and traps that will let waste go down easier. The tenant gets a toilet to help them out and maybe a little lower water bill. If it turns out the tenant has additional special needs, that's the point that I think it's reasonable for the tenant to avail himself of the various programs that help disabled/special need tenants. We recently went through this with one of our properties, though not for a veteran. Elderly authorized resident (not on the lease, tenant's mother) became disabled and needed a wheelchair ramp to get in and out of the house. We agreed to interface with the state agency, they sent us some papers to sign, we did, they sent a local contractor who did a great job building a wheelchair ramp deck that could be easily removed later. No cost to the landlord at all.
Sometimes you just don't have to always think "required" or "legally obligated". There's easy things you can do for tenants that are reasonable, and there's things that are over the top. I've gone pretty far in life trying to live by the following: always make the other guy look like the unreasonable AH.
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Michael Plante
Deland, FL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Ricardo Cuartas:

Tenant is a disabled veteran and is currently section 8. He is having back pain since the normal and functional toilet he has is too short. I informed him to contact the VA so they can give him a special raised seat. He wants me to install and pay for a new 17 inch toilet. Any advice would be appreciated.

I would have a new proper toilet installed ASAP

for two reasons primary reason because he deserves the proper toilet for him
Second reason if the VA gets involved which probably will take between one and nine months they could require you to put in wider doorways in every room if they are already aren't wide enough
It could require you to put in a ramp if you don’t already have one they could require you to make all sorts of changes to the house which he may not even want or need
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