Responding to tenant "emergencies"
Real Estate Agent · Tampa, FL · Member since 2009 · 456 posts · 123 votes
I have a question for the seasoned landlords...
How do you handle it if a tenant calls you about an issue that they feel is an emergency (which may or may not be an actual emergency) and you are not able to go over there immediately. For example, their shower is not draining, or the stove will not turn on - and you are at work, or away visiting family in another state etc.
Can you run into legal trouble if you tell them you will check on the issue in a day? What constitutes an actual legal "emergency" that you have to address immediately?
The shower clog should be something you make your tenants fix themselves.
Generally for non emergency things you need to fix you have to fix them in a reasonable amount of time.
Reasonable is typically defined as 72 hours
I agree, emergency = life threatening in which case they need to call 911.
Make sure tenants also know the non-emergency number for the local police in order to report suspicious behavior.
For things like clogged drains, if the drains were free and clear when they moved in, then they brought this on themselves (unless its something like tree roots). Advise the tenants that you'll get someone out as soon as possible, but if the plumber finds out that it was something they caused, they will be on hook for the bill.
Have a list of the appropriate trades and make some phone calls. It's not hard to call a plumber, appliance repair guy, etc. None of the items you mentioned are emergencies but should be fixed within a day or so.
An emergency would be something is on fire, a water leak that can't be contained with a bucket, a gas leak, or an electrical issue causing sparks or smoke that may result in a fire. The next tier would be urgent but non-emergency issues such as no power, no running water, main drain line blocked, etc. The items you mentioned would be pretty low on what I consider to be items requiring an urgent response.
The best thing you can do is get together a list of people to call before it comes up and then it's just as easy as making a phone call or two.
Proper tenant selection, meetings with prospective tenants and talking about expectations and house rules will take care most of these issues before they come up, the rest will require some tenant training. What has worked for me very well is the fact that I almost never speak with tenants about repairs, at signing we go over the instructions in my rental agreement on how to go about maintenance requests, expectations and possible delays. I respectfully instruct and train tenants not to call and instead send the requests online. I then forward the request to whoever is going to do the repairs. I also make sure the house is in proper working order or properly repaired, this cuts down on repeat maintenance calls...
@Corey Demuth It is important to also consider other factors. Is their ONLY shower clogged, or is it an inconvenience that they need to share a different shower. Is their ONLY toilet clogged ... etc. Those things can be the difference between whether or not a judge will find that they were justified calling a plumber for $200 an hour emergency rates at your expense because you didn't fix it soon enough. And that is also part of the explanation that needs to be given tenants when briefing them on repair contacts.
Not having any functioning showers, toilets, kitchen sink, etc could easily be interpreted as not being habitable. Same with refrigerators, HVAC, etc. But having to share one bathroom for a few days is an inconvenience and nothing more.
This thread is interesting, and I'd like to piggyback on it. If you love your tenants (and I know, you want to keep emotion out, but by 'love', I have tenants that pay me early every month, and are literally no trouble. They live simply. They don't like to be bothered (in fact they put a no soliciting sign on their front door which I can appreciate), so I generally leave them alone unless they call me. And, when they call me, it's to fix something. They hvae never demanded anything out of me, demanded that I come right away, etc.
So, when I read the question of "if there's a clogged drain and I have to call ti get it snaked, that should be their responsibility", how do you break the news to them without damaging the relationship?
In fact, about a month ago they said there was sludge coming from the basement drain, which was blow the kitchen, downstream from the kitchen 2" waste pipe, and I had it snaked in this area about 6 years ago (when I still lived there). They said black sludge was coming up. I called a plumber since while I had a 20 foot snake and had an idea that the clog was there and not somewhere else since I carpeted over another drain in the basement and it wasn't wet over there and I know the layout of the sewage pipes, I I couldn't get the cleanout cap off for the life of me, and I had a pipe wrench, and using my 200+lb bodyweight LOL. Anyway, I didn't want to break the pipe so I called someone out. This was not their fault. The plumber siad there was some sand in the pipe and that over time that section may need replacing, but that's years and years out. No trees are in the area, it just might have leaky wax seals or something (house built in 1972).
But if they had found a tampon or several, or something jammed in there, how would I break the news that they were going to have to pay for that?
Money is money, but do you guys let your very good tenants slide sometimes even at your expense? And while on this topic, do you also sometimes raise their rent 'less' because you don't want to lose them? And, when you inform tenants in general (not necessarily your lovely ones) that rent is going up, do they ever try to call and negotiate it to be less of an increase (and do you listen to that?)
@Corey Demuth I am not very seasoned but I would think emergencies would be something that if not fixed pretty quick would cause more damage. Things like a broken water pipe, a tree falling on/through the roof. I learned (I think) from one of the podcast to set up a Google voice number. You can have this ring to any phone but it also has a voice-mail feature that allows you to screen calls to ensure it is in fact a real emergency. My voice-mails also get e-mailed to me that way I can see what the person wants before I call them back.
I agree with @Paul S. that a repair "emergency" as opposed to a 911 emergency is something that if left unattended will have a relatively quick escalation to additional damage. This is not a fire or police emergency for which they call 911 this is the absence of heat, recurring electrical burning smells, leaking water pipes (not a leaking drain). Things that are broken and they have little ability to limit damage. If the heat is out email/call me. If a pipe burst let me know right away. If it smell like burning every time you do something let me know and don't do that thing.
You do have to set expectations and have people to call for repairs. I try to think about how I deal with things in my own house. What tolerance does the normal person have for this inconvenience? 24 hrs? a couple days? What can you do to limit damage? You can put a bucket under the kitchen sink but probably not under the tub drain. The first thing to do is make sure there is an issue so have them check the obvious. Is it unplugged? , did the circuit breaker trip? The next thing and it might sound unnecessary but tell them what to do. It is self evident to you some things from experience as an adult or a landlord but often you need to tell people things that you maybe don't think you should need to.
Do you have a plunger , did you try to use it? The sink drain is leaking put a bucket under it. Let me see when I can get a plumber there. No the circuit breaker cannot handle two air conditioners and a blow dryer... Smells like gas call the fire company not me and get out of the house. If I am sure there is an issue there are people we use plumbers are tough always but the rest you can usually get someone.
Over the years, we learned the value of demonstrating to tenants how to use the water shut offs and gas shut offs and about electrical panel circuit breakers. We provide a toilet plunger and make sure the tenant knows how to use it. We teach about what can and can not be put down toilets and drains. We welcome calls in the middle of the night for legitimate reasons that if addressed right away will save us time and money and hassle.
We teach tenants about which situations warrant calling 911, which situations we want them to call us immediately about and which situations can wait until our property maintenance day (Monday). We also try to keep up on property maintenance as a tenant satisfier and for prevention of problems. Regular property inspections help us nip problems in the bud, before they become an urgent need or emergency. When problems arise, most tenants don't call as soon as they should, so emphasizing to them not to wait is key.
@Marcia Maynard I like the idea of teaching them about shutoffs. One thing I have always done in my personal residences is add a bunch of shutoffs to allow isolation of a problem area so that leaks can usually be made less urgent, something to fix next weekend instead of in the middle of the night. Valves are cheap and easy to install.
We also show all our tenants where to find the shutoffs (water, gas, electric) during our move-in inspection.
Additionally, all of our tenants are provided with a binder which is essentially an instruction manual for their new home. Amongst the information it contains is a call list for our various service providers (plumber, electrician, locksmith, etc.) - this list is also velcro'd to the inside of a kitchen cupboard. The manual also explains who is responsible for the costs of a service call (our service folks know the rules and will tell the tenants when on-site).
Using the call lists, we train our tenants to call the service provider directly, so if we are not available when a "tenant emergency" arises, it is no big deal.
We had a thread on here a few weeks back from a guy with a multi-family who wouldn't go out at look at the boiler, which wasn't running, because he was having dinner with his family. He left it for the next day, when he went out and found it needed to be re-lighted. Then it broke again later and took several days to replace.
I thought it was crazy to get a call from a multifamily with no heat or hot water and blow it off for 24 hours. For all he knew, the fuel line had burst or the coil failed, and oil or water was filling his basement. If one of my boilers fails, I will be grateful for the call so I can check it out, not complaining about it.
On the other hand, if it fails entirely and it takes the plumber 24 hours to get a replacement ordered and on-site, and another 24 to get it installed...well, sometimes things take time. As long as you are doing all you reasonably can, you're good.
Basically Walt has it right. Habitability matters. No heat in the winter, not hot water or electric ever, drains that won't drain, etc will be fixed. By you, very quickly, or by the tradesman your tenant calls and you end up paying for in withheld rent.
Some people here are quick to blame the complaining tenant for clogged drains, but, in a multi-family with one sewer connection, it could be the fault of some other tenant (or a collapsed line or tree roots, etc). In a SFR, there is only the one tenant, so it seems appropriate there to blame that one tenant for the drain blockage.
One other thing I would say is anticipate and re-educate those who call for non-emergencies. Sometimes you can know during the initial interaction that the tenant is a caller. For those people there is some re-education. I don't call back immediately when they call on non-urgent issues. I got one "emergency" call me right away. The tenant was asking about paint. Now I know there is no one painting so there cannot be a paint emergency. The tenant claimed someone had dripped paint all over the car but 2 hours later I get a text saying it washed off. (I think it was bird poop by the description but they still say no). I was glad I did not urgently call them back on that one and hopefully they learn from the experience.
We do also provide a binder with all the operating manuals , inventory etc, but I do not include the people to call for say plumbing etc.
@Roy N. What I would be concerned about is things that aren't really broke and they call someone. Do you find that happening? We always use the same trades people so there are relationships but I don't think we have enough volume that they would necessarily do something on the tenants call without also calling us. There are a few providers I would like to move to that level. How do you let the providers know what is allowed, do you have a list for them?
Some people here are quick to blame the complaining tenant for clogged drains, but, in a multi-family with one sewer connection, it could be the fault of some other tenant (or a collapsed line or tree roots, etc). In a SFR, there is only the one tenant, so it seems appropriate there to blame that one tenant for the drain blockage.
I always clear the drain line for my tenants the first time at no charge no matter what's blocking it. That eliminates any issues where they claim it was caused by a previous tenant or existing issue. If the cause is found to be the tenant's fault (flushing foreign objects, pouring grease down the drain, etc.) then I let them know they will be billed for any future blockages.
I know some people say to make the tenants call a plumber but in my experience they'll try to get around paying a professional and all kinds of things can go wrong. One time I had tenants go under the house and disconnect the drain line so the toilet flushes directly under the house rather than backing up. I'll just have my plumber handle it and I'll and bill them and that way I know it's taken care of and if it's my issue (cracked line or roots) then the tenant doesn't have to deal with it.
Like others, we show the tenants where the water shut offs are, and strongly suggest they don't run appliances like the dishwasher or washing machine when they leave for the day. Emergencies are discussed at lease signing, as well as who to call. They can call my contractor or myself from 8AM - 6PM, although they can email anytime.
Our SFRs have maintenance contracts with the utility companies, so if the furnace goes out at 2AM in February, they can call them directly. We explain what true emergencies are and when to call 911, not us. All but 1 of our properties have 2 bathrooms, so there's always a toilet to use if one won't flush until it can be repaired. We provide all instruction manuals for appliances. During lease signing, we go over the repair process as well as how *not* to overload the dishwasher or washing machine, we show them how to change the lint trap in the dryer, and tell them exactly what not to flush down the toilets.
Tenants are not permitted to call any repair people themselves; they must call my contractor or myself. In our rental condos, we tell them if suddenly the water is turned off, to call the association, as sometimes they turn it off for building repairs and don't properly notify everyone.
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@Roy N. What I would be concerned about is things that aren't really broke and they call someone. Do you find that happening? We always use the same trades people so there are relationships but I don't think we have enough volume that they would necessarily do something on the tenants call without also calling us. There are a few providers I would like to move to that level. How do you let the providers know what is allowed, do you have a list for them?
Colleen:
Despite our efforts to educate tenants at move-in, they do occasionally call one of our trades when something is not an emergency, but after they've paid the bill a couple of times, they learn to be more discerning. We do not have a lot of volume either, which is the reason most of our trades agree to take calls.
Most calls (probably 80%) are for plumbing. Our plumber is the best at handling these - he's in his 60s and only takes after-hours calls from our buildings and those of one other landlord these days. He is also very good at talking the tenant through the situation/symptoms to determine if it is urgent or merely inconvenient and will frequently tell them, "I can come tonight and it will cost you $100.00 or, if it can wait until tomorrow or the next day, it will only cost you $50.00."
We provide all our trades with a description of what is the tenants and what is our responsibility - most of them can tell pretty quickly even without a list. Every once in a while we do get to eat a call which rightfully belonged to a tenant: viz. last autumn we had a sewer backup in one of our multi-units. The plumber was called by a tenant, and after some scoping and diagnostics, ended up snaking the 4" sewer main in the building. The blockage turned out to be a toothbrush, but we had no way to determine from which unit it came. :-)
for clogged drains in the basement very good chance it's not the tenants fault. Toilets prolly their fault but basement drains can be tree roots collapsed pipe etc.
Some people here are quick to blame the complaining tenant for clogged drains, but, in a multi-family with one sewer connection, it could be the fault of some other tenant (or a collapsed line or tree roots, etc). In a SFR, there is only the one tenant, so it seems appropriate there to blame that one tenant for the drain blockage.
Absolutely right. We are dealing with that at one of our duplexes right now. You know those "flushable" wipes that people use for personal hygiene? It is not a good idea to flush those. Sure they get through the toilet, but they can clog up your sewer line. Our sewage treatment plant reports they mess up their system as well. We just cleared a drain that had some minor root intrusion and the plumber found flushable wipes stuck on the roots causes the blockage. We don't know which tenant flushed them, or even if they were flushed by a previous tenant too and just hit the critical mass point. The plumber told us other waste would have gone through that spot without a problem, as the root intrusion was so minor. But it was just enough to snag a wipe. We are footing the bill.
Take a look at this news video "Vancouver finds "flushable" wipes not so flushable".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hdX3c5wcgE
Here's one where a guy does his own "scientific test" to prove otherwise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3wI4QmwEBg
We are adding don't flush "flushable wipes" to our property rules!
When I was a tenant, I used to flush dental floss. Never thought about it. One day the toilet clogged and my landlord couldn't clear it until he took the toilet off the floor and snaked it out. He found a giant tangle of dental floss. Lesson learned.
I tell my tenants now that they are not to flush *anything* down the toilet that they haven't eaten first. They get the idea ;)
They have to eat their toilet paper? Wow, you're like the worst landlord ever. :)
@Corey Demuth - I have a document I'm happy to share with you that I give my lessees when the sign called "Emergencies vs. Urgencies" -- it compassionately spells out the differences while acknowledging that we understand how certain non emergency situations can seem like emergencies. Also instructed is what to do. We allow our tenants to call our heating person / plumber in case of emergencies and also spell out that if they call after hours for "non emergency" they could be liable for the overtime portion of their charge. Email or PM me and i'll send it over!
They have to eat their toilet paper? Wow, you're like the worst landlord ever. :)
You guys are killing me...
Originally posted by @Kenneth LaVoie:
@Corey Demuth - I have a document I'm happy to share with you that I give my lessees when the sign called "Emergencies vs. Urgencies" -- it compassionately spells out the differences while acknowledging that we understand how certain non emergency situations can seem like emergencies. Also instructed is what to do. We allow our tenants to call our heating person / plumber in case of emergencies and also spell out that if they call after hours for "non emergency" they could be liable for the overtime portion of their charge. Email or PM me and i'll send it over!
PM sent - appreciate it!