Tenants should pay for damage, right?

Question

Late last night I received a call from one of my tenants telling me that one of the other units had a fire in their apartment (this is a 4-plex) 2 days ago.  She said there was an explosion and she didn't know what happened but 2 of the fire extinguishers outside the building have been used.  She said that she saw them pulling out carpet, etc.  I will be going there tomorrow to do an inspection.  I tried to contact the tenants and asked if something happened but they won't answer and I'm sure they are trying to conceal whatever damage I might find before I get there tomorrow.  I can charge them for everything they damaged or do I need to go through my insurance company?  It's petty but can I charge them for the fire extinguishers?

Christopher B. · Answer

@Karen S.

Always require renters insurance, it's around $10/month for a $100k liability policy for the tenant through a company like First American Property and Casualty. I used to work for a large property mgmt company and that is what we always required.

Karen S. · Answer

I don't require renters insurance and I'm sure these tenants don't have it.  I'll find out tomorrow what happened and I may need more advice.  Thanks everyone!

Matthew Paul · Answer

file a claim against their renters insurance .

Chris K. · Answer

Need to get more information on exactly what happened but if it's due to their actions and it's minor damage then I'd charge them (though I personally wouldn't for the extinguishers). If it's enough damage to warrant an insurance claim then probably best to do the claim to get it fixed asap.

Which now that you asked this i'm curious if  you can go after Tenants for the insurance deductable?

Edit: Just saw the reply above

Chris Adams · Answer

Depending on what actually happened, I believe its common to have the tenant pay the deductible if your insurance is involved. After that it should be up to your insurance if they want to go after the tenants for the actual damages.

So if they where building bombs, or cooking meth the insurance may go after them. If they had a crock pot explode, probably not.

Patrick L. · Answer

You can charge them for it as long as they were at fault (if the fire was caused by a faulty appliance or electrical wiring it will be on you).  Now actually collecting from them is another story....

You need to get in there ASAP because if you have to go through your insurance company you don't want the scene disrupted prior documenting everything for your insurance.  If you have $10k in damage you'll probably need to go through insurance to get paid, if it's $1k then it's probably not worth filing a claim and easier to go after the tenant.