How to charge tenants for some repairs?

Question

We plan to start charging our tenants for stopped up sinks, clogged toilets, ect. What is the proper and legal way to go about doing this? Can we just send them a bill?

Aly W. · Answer

Has anyone had these issues with tenants on rental assistance? Billing them for damage? Or do you just take it out of their security deposit later?

Account Closed · Answer

All you do is send them a 30 day written notice that starting in 30 days, all plumbing stoppages will be the responsibility of the tenants.

You say that all lines are currently clear and the only way that a drain gets stopped up is if the tenant puts something down the drain that should not be there.

Note: If you have apartment buildings, drains are pretty much on the landlord, unless you actually pull a GI Joe out of the toilet throat.

The trouble with billing in an apartment, is that apartment A might put bacon grease down the drain and it hardens after it passes 2 other apartments. So apartment C might be the first one to get water backing up. It's not OK to bill apartment C when it was A that poured grease down the pipes.

In short... how are you going to prove who clogged the drains?

Mark N.A · Answer

During the lease-signing I explain the 'common sense rule':  If something breaks that is the house's fault -- old plumbing, a range burner shorting out, a meteor smashing a window, etc., then I will pay.

However, if the plumbing clogs up due to something bad flushed down, or the oven catches fire because they didn't clean it, or it wasn't actually a meteor but Jr's baseball that damaged the window - then it's their fault.

Common sense!  And yet, and yet...  they will still and always want to argue.....

Mark Hu · Answer

After reading these replies I feel comfortable charging for damage obviously caused by the tenant. In our lease forms it states the tenants are responsible for damage directly caused by them.
I plan to start using maintenance request forms to document all our repairs, maybe I should use these to charge the tenant in case they, for example, clogged a kitchen disposal? And should I ask for a separate check or ask them to add it to the rent bill?

Jessica Tam · Answer

The way Dal1 does it sounds reasonable.

The one thing I'm wondering about the original post is if the poster is wanting to start charging existing tenants.  If the T&Cs are spelled out when the tenant moves in, then that's fine, but if you want to change the terms, that's harder.

Even a good tenant will be wary if they think you're just changing the terms to squeeze more money out of people - what would you do?  Explain to the tenant you have more than one property, and are updating your terms for those?  If you have a good relationship with the other tenants that could work, but otherwise I could see tenants responding poorly.

Lynn Z · Answer

I spell it out in the lease.  If the vendor/plumber etc. comes and the tenant has failed to change the filter in the dryer or has feminine stuff or rags etc in the plumbing they pay.  I stand with the plumber and if I miss it he tells what he knows to be the problem.

I have them write on the ticket what the problem was and tell the tenant immediately if they need to include that trip on their next month's rent.  Usually the landlord pays (roots, etc.) but I don't hesitate to tell them one on one if it's going to be their payment.  You have to show them why the filter didn't get changed etc. so that they won't continue to ignore the problem the next time.  Everyone deserves to know what they're up against.

If a tenant will "fess up" and tell me what they know the precipitating cause of the problem is (broken glass in the sink stopped up the garbage disposal etc) I usually don't charge them because I want them to not hesitate to call me when they first see a problem.

You have to separate the responsible tenants from the ones you know won't cooperate and use some judgment with both.

Michelle Stein · Answer

Sending them a bill will likely just make them angry.

What I would do is probably make sure it's VERY obvious in the lease agreement & then even possibly work that into the deposit/monthly rent price and then if they DON'T have any issues then refund them that extra amount for taking such good care of the property when they move out. You could even put that extra into an interest bearing escrow account or something of the sorts.

I don't know what state you are in though, and they're all different, so checking with an attorney might not be a bad idea either.

Frank Adams · Answer

I used to have in my lease that the tenant was responsible for the first ?? of repairs. I stopped doing it after a fellow landlord's experience. The tenant noticed the toilet had a small-ish leak, I don't recall if it was a bad supply valve or a bad gasket at the bottom of the tank. Regardless it was something that would've been a $5, 45 minute fix for him.

BUT, the tenant ignored it, why waste $50 on the landlord's house? Instead the leak persisted (did I mention it had a parquet floor in the sink/toilet part of the bathroom, as did the master bedroom?), migrating under the floor throughout the bathroom.

By the time they left, 2 years later about 50 square feet of parquet was ruined. No problem, replace that in the bath with ceramic, but the bad stuff extendend into the master bedroom. By the time he replaced the bad parquet, and REFINISHED 3/4 OF THE HOUSE TO MAKE IT MATCH. He was out several hundred $$ and a weekend.

I did have in my lease that for a stopped up toilet or sink I would pay to "snake" it out. If it was roots it was on me. If it was a Barbie doll or a huge wad of anything that shouldn't have been put down the sink/toilet, IT WAS ON THEM. This was a separate paragraph, bold face  requiring tenant's signature ON THAT PARAGRAPH. Never had a problem once I put that in.

all cash

How to charge tenants for some repairs?

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