Help! Tenant requested repair during the eviction

[Anna Wang]

Hi everyone! I'm from Michigan. There is a rental we have in metro Detroit area that has deadbeat tenant. She had been a problem from day one. Rent stopped in April but the request for repairs didn't. She requested me to change the outlet for the dryer and some door handles, I finally had enough after every other month the different repair requests from her. We are on month to month. So I sent her a 30 day notice to quit in June and told her that we could forgive her rent if she moves out by the end of June. She didn't. We had to take her to the court to evict her. The judgement is she has to move out by August 3rd. Now she is messaging me and saying the outlet for the dryer sparks, looks like it wants to catch on fire. Wants me to send an electrician to change the outlet. We just had a electrician over a couple months ago to replace the washer's outlet and didn't say anything about the dryer outlet. Now she is moving out in one and half week. I think she is trying to use it as an excuse if I go after her for the back rent. Any landlord here has had similar situation or anyone has any suggestions? Thanks in advance

[Lindsey Hughey]

Go and look at it yourself before you call an electrician.  Have her show you what is happening, it is too much of a risk to not take her seriously.  

[John Underwood]

Turn off dryer breaker. See if you can get a device to lock it out in off position.

Video telling her to leave it off and you will check it once she is out.

[Anna Wang]

Quote from @Lindsey Hughey:

Go and look at it yourself before you call an electrician.  Have her show you what is happening, it is too much of a risk to not take her seriously.  

 Thank you. I try to have the minimum communication with her. She is good at game playing and not very pleasant person to talk to

[Anna Wang]

Quote from @John Underwood:

Turn off dryer breaker. See if you can get a device to lock it out in off position.

Video telling her to leave it off and you will check it once she is out.

 Thank you. Sounds like a good idea

[Theresa Harris]

Tell her you can't get anyone to look at it and to stop using it.  It is summer and she can hang her clothes to dry or go to a laundromat.

[Lindsey Hughey]

Quote from @Anna Wang:

Quote from @Lindsey Hughey:

Go and look at it yourself before you call an electrician.  Have her show you what is happening, it is too much of a risk to not take her seriously.  

 Thank you. I try to have the minimum communication with her. She is good at game playing and not very pleasant person to talk to

 Doesn’t matter if she is pleasant or not, you are risking your property being burned to the ground via an electrical fire.  The fact that she told you makes you more liable.  Go put eyes on your property, or have an Electrican do something.

[Nathan Gesner]

I would turn off the breaker for that outlet and tell her to use a different one. Make the property safe and deal with the repair after she is gone. There's not enough time remaining on her lease to file a formal complaint or Force you to make the repair before she is terminated. 

[Henry T.]

Sparks! That's an emergency.

Make an appointment to see it. If she doesn't let you in, go in. Emergency.

Call the police if she gives you grief. It's an emergency.

Have a witness with you. Hopefully an electrician friend.

Don't argue, don't say anything, she's recording. Inspect, fix, disable, get out.

If she says there's sparks again,  call the fire department.
Disable that outlet. Have an electrician pull the breaker wires so it can't be turned back on.

Document everything.

[Drew Sygit]

@Anna Wang You need to look into as it is a health & safety issue. 

While the tenant probably can't use this issue to stop her eviction, she may be able to use it to file a lawsuit against you!

Suggest you take a friend with you, or if you send someone have them bring a friend. The purpose of the friend is to have another party that can testify in court if the tenant tries anything. Otherwise it's just one person's word against the other's. Also, HIGHLY recommend the friend use their camera phone to VIDEO the visit, starting at the front door. This will document and protect everyone from a lawsuit.

How well did you screen this tenant?

You may want to hire a PMC that can do a better job than you:)

[Anna Wang]

I agree the PM can do better jobs than me and I don't want to deal with the tenants. We have a very experienced property manager company. After 2 years dealing with this tenant, they can't handle her any more. That's why I took over. I appreciate your advice!


Quote from @Drew Sygit:

@Anna Wang You need to look into as it is a health & safety issue. 

While the tenant probably can't use this issue to stop her eviction, she may be able to use it to file a lawsuit against you!

Suggest you take a friend with you, or if you send someone have them bring a friend. The purpose of the friend is to have another party that can testify in court if the tenant tries anything. Otherwise it's just one person's word against the other's. Also, HIGHLY recommend the friend use their camera phone to VIDEO the visit, starting at the front door. This will document and protect everyone from a lawsuit.

How well did you screen this tenant?

You may want to hire a PMC that can do a better job than you:)

[Anna Wang]

Quote from @Henry T.:

Sparks! That's an emergency.

Make an appointment to see it. If she doesn't let you in, go in. Emergency.

Call the police if she gives you grief. It's an emergency.

Have a witness with you. Hopefully an electrician friend.

Don't argue, don't say anything, she's recording. Inspect, fix, disable, get out.

If she says there's sparks again,  call the fire department.
Disable that outlet. Have an electrician pull the breaker wires so it can't be turned back on.

Document everything.

 Thank you

[Anna Wang]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

I would turn off the breaker for that outlet and tell her to use a different one. Make the property safe and deal with the repair after she is gone. There's not enough time remaining on her lease to file a formal complaint or Force you to make the repair before she is terminated. 

 Thank you!!

[Bruce Woodruff]

I would send a licensed electrician over to verify what is wrong (if anything) and get a documented report in case you need it in the future. If there is no problem, leaves things as -is. If there is a problem with the breaker, have him disable it until she is gone. This way you cover all the bases.....

[Brandon Moss]

@Anna Wang

I recommend you send the electrician out as soon as possible. You’re coming to the close of the matter. Just stick to doing the work and get the work done in the unit. This will keep your unit maintained and reduce the chance of a hazardous situation or legal challenges.

Just make it all as simple as possible by doing everything 100% on your end.

Keep at it! It’s almost ready.

[Michael Robbins]

@Anna Wang I suggest send the electrician again but also send an appliance company.  I had a similar situation with a dryer sparking and after investigating we found that the dryer had a recall on it for "exploding."  I would pull the model and lookup if there is any recall situation.  

[Eric Larson]

@Anna Wang unpleasant tenants are part of this game. Unfortunately, we have to deal with them and grow a thick skin. I understand the desire for minimal communication, but this could be a liability problem or, worst case, it could be a fire hazard and a danger to any other tenants as well as the structure. Schedule a time to see the property with an electrician. Be clinical and professional in your behavior. You are just there to investigate and potentially mitigate the situation. The electrician will be a witness if anything gets odd.

[Karl B.]

Schedule an electrician and when the electrician gives a time and date send a 24 hour inspection notice to the tenant for the same time/date. While the electrician is working take a video of the rental and note any new damage the tenant made. 

If there's new damage send the photos/video to tradesmen and request a quote for repair. 

At the eviction ask the judge to add damages (providing you can prove the tenant made them, which is easy to do if you made a pre-move-in video of the rental) to the judgement. 

[Bill Brandt]

Good luck.

And let us know in a couple weeks if you got your property back and what happened in court.