I have a tenant who emailed me at my work e-mail account on Christmas about a leaking garbage disposal that didn't seem to work anymore and that they had scheduled Roto Rooter to come fix it.
Normally, I know that a leak like is the its the landlord's responsibility and the landlord has to pay to get it fixed.
But, in this case, a part of me feels the tenant should pay for that repair because the tenant didn't come to me first or give me enough time to get it fixed before they called in Roto Rooter.
I have my own plumbing contact that I've used for years that I would have called in to fix it. That company has always been reliable, and I'm sure would have been cheaper than Roto Router which has to pay for advertising.
Instead, my tenant emails my work email account, dana@Xcompany, even though I've told them before not to email that account because of a situation like this.
Instead of the the tenant calling me or emailing me at my non-work email account, the tenant emailed my work email on a day when I obviously wasn't going to be working there that day.
What does your lease say? My lease says all repairs must be approved by the landlord. Therefore in this situation, I send an email back. Thank you for notifying me regarding the repair. We appreciate you fixing the repair at your expense. If this happens in the future please contact me at X so we can have this problem remediated in an expedite manner through a company we have a contract with!
This way you in a polite manner
1) thank them for taking care of the issue
2) address it at their cost
3) address the of the correct contact
4) identify tha tyou have your own repair people
Have they asked you to pay for it or are they just notifying you that they took care of it? I would let them know that you would prefer to take care of those issues going forward as you want to have the workmanship warranties and the like in your name and want to control the work being done to our property. I would also let them know that you have 2 forms of Contact, first being your phone and second your personal e-mail.
What does your lease say? My lease says all repairs must be approved by the landlord. Therefore in this situation, I send an email back. Thank you for notifying me regarding the repair. We appreciate you fixing the repair at your expense. If this happens in the future please contact me at X so we can have this problem remediated in an expedite manner through a company we have a contract with!
This way you in a polite manner
1) thank them for taking care of the issue
2) address it at their cost
3) address the of the correct contact
4) identify tha tyou have your own repair people
Send them a letter of Violation Notice if your lease stipulates that they are to notify you regarding repairs, and that no repairs are to be done by them without permission.
Also ask them for a copy of the Invoice that Rooter Router gave them. If they don't have one, most likely they fixed it themselves or a friend. If they don't have a receipt for the work, too bad so sad, the bill is on them.
In the letter state next time they call someone to do a repair they will be terminated.
Nancy Neville
Exactly as @Elizabeth Colegrove and @Account Closed have said. My lease has the same clause about repairs, and I discuss it on the phone or in person with the tenant prior to move-in. I would also ask why they didn't call you. It does sound odd that they notified you after the fact in a manner in which you couldn't tell them "no" before they did it.
Like Nancy, I would also suspect they did it themselves or had a friend do it. Definitely ask for the receipt.
I think it also comes back to tenant training. What is your usual method of communication? Are you using your work email? They may not realize that this is your work email, if they have it saved in their contacts list it just shows up with your name.
My tenats are acustomed to sending me text messages. That already starts before the first showing and by the time they have moved in and all questions are answered they are very used to this way of communication.
I have the same problem as you, I have a work email, which I check all the time, but not so much on weekends and I dont want to mix issues. And I have my RE email, which frankly I dont check every day, especially when I am travelling. So text is for me the best solution, especially because its instant and also because I dont have to deal with looong emails.
100% email contact. It covers everyone with a written record in case their is ever a problem. As for the maintenance issue. I agree with everyone else. But, if they are good people and you want to give them a break request a receipt and tell them you will split the cost 50/50. They may have had good intentions and saved your cabinets from being destroyed by a leak.
What does your lease say? My lease says all repairs must be approved by the landlord.
I have a standard lease that says a tenant can't, without prior written consent, make any repairs or alterations. And, in my lease, it states that a tenant should contact me by my phone if there are any problems.
I sent them a email, telling them not to make that repair because I already had a contract with somebody else and that my person would be cheaper than theirs. Also, I re-iterated that they need to call me and that the lease says to call me because of a situations like this when I'm not at work.
At the very least, it nipped it in the bud where they won't be making any future repairs without first contacting me.
Honestly I spend half my time as a landlord "nipping" things in the bed. You are best to crush out the "coal" write away before they start a fire. :) Good luck!
And, before I ever saw the bill, I was 500% right when I predicted their guy was going to be more expensive than mine would have been.
Their Rooter plumber's bill for a "new garbage disposal/seals and to fix the leak installed" is more than $500.
The tenant has the invoice from the plumber and will send me a copy. But, the tenant wants to deduct that from January's rent.
Other than the invoice, what other documentation should I ask for? I'm really, really skeptical about a $500 bill for a problem from this. It sounds like somebody got ripped off.
But, I feel like I should get all the documentation before I make my decision about what to do with this bill.
I would advise to never allow tenants to deduct repairs from rent. If you reimburse the tenant for some or for all of the repair, then pay the tenant with a check. Don't reimburse the tenant for more than what it would have cost you to have the repair done or what is reasonable. This is a good opportunity to go over the terms of the renal agreement again, all of them, for clarity. I also agree with the comments made by all the previous posters.
I would also have your regular plumbing contact provide you with a written quote on the cost of the work if he/she had done it.
Then send your tenant the Roto Rooter bill, your plumber's quote and a check for the amount of your plumber's quote. They eat the difference.
I would advise to never allow tenants to deduct repairs from rent. If you reimburse the tenant for some or for all of the repair, then pay the tenant with a check. Don't reimburse the tenant for more than what it would have cost you to have the repair done or what is reasonable.
Assuming I reimburse the tenant for only the amount it would have cost me to do the repair, what's the difference between the tenant deducting that amount from the repair vs reimbursing the tenant with a check?
Either way, I still have to pay the same amount.
You don't ever allow the tenant to deduct anything from the rent. Don't accept a check for less than the full amount of the lease or you will be invalidating your lease. If that happens you could have difficult time in court if you need to evict them.
Whether you decide to pay for this repair or not is a separate issue from them paying the rent in full as agreed to in the lease.
I'm not an experienced landlord - so take what I say with a grain of salt - but I completely agree with @Elizabeth Colegrove I wouldn't want a tenant in my first, or any of my future rentals making an unapproved repair and then passing the bill on to me. I would follow Elizabeth's advise to the T. Let them know they should have notified you. That this was unapproved. And that you cannot deduct it from the rent. Also state you would like to inspect it and if there is a problem, they may have a bill. They may be nice people and good tenants, but they clearly do not understand the concept of property ownership.
I don't know if @Billy Rogers advise is legally correct or not, but it sounds plausible, so I would also be concerned about this. I'm a firm believer that you should be honest and ethical in landlording, but stick to YOUR rules and principles, and do not let the tenant dictate the relationship.
Given that I am late to this chain, and that it is almost a new month (and year), I'd be curious to hear if and how you resolved this...
You don't ever allow the tenant to deduct anything from the rent. Don't accept a check for less than the full amount of the lease or you will be invalidating your lease. If that happens you could have difficult time in court if you need to evict them.
I'd like to understand more about this because the tenant is insisting on doing that.
After the feedback of this forum, I emailed the tenant to please not deduct that amount from the rent and that I first needed to see the invoice to understand why it cost so much more than what my plumber would have charged.
And, then I get this email response, paraphrasing:
"Sorry, but I already sent out the check yesterday and deducted that amount from that total.
I promised I'll give you the invoice, whenever you want, and I'll email to you. Just not today; I'll do it tomorrow or the day after that.
When there's issues like this and if there's no way to reach you, well, I'm sorry but that's unreasonable.
I can't live without a sink when my family's over making Christmas dinner and we're waiting to to hear back from you days later.
Try to understand where I'm coming from."
Ask yourself " Who is in charge the landlord or the tenant ? " .
A bucket under the sink will work for a day or 2 . That company is expensive to start with and if it was xmas or xmas eve it would be holiday charges .
I wouldn't care what the tenant insisted on doing. The terms of the lease are what govern your relationship, not what the tenant does or does not want to do. You've received some good advice in this thread, I'd suggest you follow it. Be firm and act like the property owner.
Let her know you are returning the check, and that you can only accept payment in full, in accordance with the terms of her lease.
I had a direct deposit set up so I don't know if I could do that like I could with a check, whereby I could simply refuse to cash that check.
You don't ever allow the tenant to deduct anything from the rent. Don't accept a check for less than the full amount of the lease or you will be invalidating your lease. If that happens you could have difficult time in court if you need to evict them.
I'd like to understand more about this because the tenant is insisting on doing that.
After the feedback of this forum, I emailed the tenant to please not deduct that amount from the rent and that I first needed to see the invoice to understand why it cost so much more than what my plumber would have charged.
And, then I get this email response, paraphrasing:
"Sorry, but I already sent out the check yesterday and deducted that amount from that total.
I promised I'll give you the invoice, whenever you want, and I'll email to you. Just not today; I'll do it tomorrow or the day after that.
When there's issues like this and if there's no way to reach you, well, I'm sorry but that's unreasonable.
I can't live without a sink when my family's over making Christmas dinner and we're waiting to to hear back from you days later.
Try to understand where I'm coming from."
Personally this is what I would do. I would rewrite her a professional, but STRONG email.
Thank you for your rent payment. Please note that it is a partial payment as there was no authorized deductions approved by myself, the landlord. It will be applied towards what due, if the remainder is not paid by the due date. A late fee will apply. If I do not receive the rest of the amount owed within the late fee guidelines, I will be forced to proceed with eviction process to fullest extent of the law.
I have outlined the proper procedures to contact me. They were not iniated nor was this an "emergency" repair by my or state standards. Therefore there is no reason for deviation from procedure. I am sorry that your Christmas dinner was impacted but there are procedures in place in order for your and my protection. When you do not follow these procedures that you agree to by signing the lease, you are assume the responsibility for the cost and liability if the repair is not done correctly.
Therefore consider this a warning for lease violation and a remind of proper procedure. Please notify me when the rest of the payment will be place in the mail.
Thank you for your understand. I look for a continue long relationship.
Or something to that affect (I just finished a heck of a hard six hour drive)
I like the advice @Elizabeth Colegrove gave you.
Just a short explanation about accepting less than full rent. You have a contract - the lease - stating the rent amount. If you accept less than the full amount you are nullifying your lease because you aren't following the terms of the lease. If you go to court to kick them out, you can't point to the lease and say they aren't following it, because you aren't either. They could say you have a verbal agreement that allows them to pay less or pay when they have the money or any other bs story they feed the judge. This is one of the basic rules of landlording - only accept full rent payment.
Also as a side note - Don't feel bad. You haven't done anything wrong. This is all the tenant's fault and they are trying to push you around and see what they can get away with. Keep your communication firm but professional. You can reimburse them or not, but don't let them deduct anything from the rent. Don't give them that kind of control.
Well said everyone.
According to California Civil Code 1942, a tenant can, without your permission, have a defect repaired without your consent and deduct the rent under the following circumstances:
Based upon that, a malfunctioning garbage disposal doesn't fit the criteria for a tenant initiated repair and rent deduction.
I would NOT accept the partial rent payment. I would ask for the full rent. Then I would return with a quote from your contractor. See if you can find an amicable way to pay for or split the costs.
Just a short explanation about accepting less than full rent. You have a contract - the lease - stating the rent amount. If you accept less than the full amount you are nullifying your lease because you aren't following the terms of the lease. If you go to court to kick them out, you can't point to the lease and say they aren't following it, because you aren't either. They could say you have a verbal agreement that allows them to pay less or pay when they have the money or any other bs story they feed the judge. This is one of the basic rules of landlording - only accept full rent payment.
Thanks for the explanation. Its so confusing because different states have different rules about this and there's differences between residential and commercial leases.
To make matters even more confusing, California Department of Consumer Affairs almost sounds encouraging of receiving partial payment:
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/li...
It says:
"If you can't pay the full amount on time, you may want to offer to pay part of the rent. However, the law allows your landlord to take the partial payment and still give you an eviction notice. "
If you don't stop this now next time there will be another repair and the tenant will think its ok to do this. Always refer to the lease agreement and what it says. I have been down that road before. I at one point at the advise of my plummer took all in-sink garbage disposals out of my tenants homes due to this kind of issue. we forks and other things stuck in there. Now nothing gets backed up! You can be nice and split bill but I would not do it if that was my tenant.