Who Pays for Repairs?

[Joseph Turner]

The power went out at my rental property and apparently the tenant had the garage door partially up. They tried to manually close it using the emergency release handle but somehow snapped the lifting cable. I’ve seen both arguments in a google search, so who’s responsible for paying the repairs?

[David Peschio]

In this type of situation, the landlord is usually responsible for covering the costs of the garage door repair. Even though the tenant tried to close the door manually during the power outage, it's difficult to know for sure if the lifting cable was already weakened from regular use over time.

Unless there's clear proof of negligence by the tenant, the landlord generally holds the responsibility for repairs.

Information regarding the age of the garage door and whether the tenant has caused similar maintenance issues in the past could be helpful in determining responsibility. 

My recommendation would be to inform the tenant that you will handle the repair this time and make a note of the incident for future reference.