Good tenants but getting annoying
This is my first "landlord problem" post. Sorry it's long but I'm at my wits end. I realize I could have bigger problems because the tenants take care of the property and pay on time. But, the husband is getting annoying.
The background is that they moved in 17 months ago (18 month lease) after my first tenant abandoned the house. The current tenants discovered a few repairs were needed because the first tenant hadn't reported problems. My PM was slow to respond and when I finally became aware of this I contacted tenants directly to apologize and then straightened things out including firing the PM. I now self-manage.
I have now paid to have the garbage disposal side of the kitchen sink snaked 4 times, each time giving them verbal and/or written preventative instructions and told them to use it minimally (I've already decided to remove it before my next tenant, if not sooner). After the 3rd time I told them to stop using it and any future problems would be at their expense. I provided mesh screens to catch debris. The 4th time, he was "sure" there was a bigger problem with the plumbing, that the disposal needed to be replaced and there was an odor coming from the drain. I figured I couldn't make them financially responsible since it wasn't in the lease, so I had another plumber out to check for things like a flat line and a problem with the vent pipe. The plumber said, as the others did, they are abusing the disposal. They said they had been "barely" using it but the plumber reported the wife said she had cleaned corn a few days earlier. Who knows how much of that she put down there? He explained the pipes are smaller than what is used these days so a new disposal wouldn't solve the problem.
I relayed this to them and told them not to use the disposal at all. I explained that I live in a condo about the same age as the house (65yrs) and I don't use mine for the same reason. The husband said the drain is still slow sometimes but drains better if they turn on the disposal.They seemed ok with all that and I didn't hear any more about it. Until now.
They told me they want to renew their lease at the end of the month so I emailed the new lease for their signature. And, yes, it makes them financially responsible for drain clogs! I did not increase the rent because the market is stable and all the hassles they went through early on. He sent the following reply:
I was thinking that there will be a change in the Monthly Rents because
- Kitchen sink is not functional and the occasional bad smell,
- Microwave was not the size we met when we came in and now we have to use ours
- During entry, we were told it has double ovens, but we realized it doesn't
The sink is functional because it's only the disposal side that is slow (not clogged). IF anyone told them there was a double oven it was the PM. Also, when I bought the place, it was obvious to me it was a microwave, not an oven. The microwave/oven combo quit and had to be replaced with separate units because the old dimensions were obsolete. The first replacement microwave quit already. It was covered by warranty but that unit wasn't available so was replaced with a slightly smaller one. A few weeks later the tenant told me to pick it up because they bought another, slightly larger one, without complaint at that time.
Am I being unreasonable in some way by not wanting to LOWER the rent? How would you respond to his request?
Thanks in advance for any feedback you may have.