Need Advice now! New home rental had builder warranty issues causing 3 way crisis
I just joined this forum because I'm in need of a "tribe" who has wisdom and experience to offer. This is mine and my partners second investment rental property. We sold a condo and bought a brand new townhouse in December 2014 in Bend Oregon. Our real estate agent did the walk-through for us while we were out of the country on business and we were told that everything looked good.
Long story short, I hired a property management company to find tenants and after they moved in February 13, 2015-- I took over. That's when the warranty repair nightmares began... The builder then requested direct communications with our tenant to make scheduling easy. All 3 parties agreed. To date there have been 14 warranty appointments with 1 more in the pipeline!!!!
As the number of poor workmanship repairs mounted and our tenant grew frustrated, she blasted the builder's workmanship in person and by email and we almost got our warranty dropped. I empathize with my tenants however, t twice because of their communications, I've come close to my warranty being dumped by the builder who's problem stems from the inability to hire talented, qualified contractors due to a building boom in the area.
The builder wrote an email requesting that they only deal with me and my partner. We all agreed and asked our tenant not to discuss any repairs, or the quality of work with the builders. Last week after the tenant complained to us of being unable to use the house for 1/2 day due to toxic paint fumes and asthma she asked us for compensation for all the inconveniences.
After letting the builder know about her health situation caused by their toxic paint that apparently takes 30-45 days to cure, my partner and I requested a non paint fix. Get a granite guy in and install a nice mantle. Instead, the builder's warranty rep showed up and for another repair (a bedroom door that would not shut... t goes on and on...) and once again he talked directly to my tenant about doing painting repairs-- it's like the tenant forgot her dramatic health issue from last week and now it seems that both parties are working against my request to the builder for a non paint solution--granite.
Today, the tenant has flip flopped and wants it painted and admitted that the builders rep mentioned granite and how complicated it is to install. That news by the builder was designed to piss off the tenant so they won't have to pay for an upgrade. Now, my tenant is threatening an early exit from the lease if we want granite--which is intended as a precaution for her health. I know our tenants very inconvenienced -- we have too and I have no idea of whats fair in this situation. I'm thinking of a one time one week rental reduction for the inconveniences. Now that the fixes are complete it should be the hassle free new house we bought.
Please help! What sort of fair compensation should we offer our tenants? We'd like to make them happy but we cannot afford to lose money. Do we offer compensation to stay or easy exit from the lease?
Thank you, your help is greatly appreciated.