Investor · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2015 · 78 posts · 36 votes
we have had a good, but picky, tenant for seven years. He has a lot of requests and most are reasonable. The three year old air conditioning went out today (Sunday).
We got in touch with a repair company. They said they could be there tomorrow afternoon. They offered to come this afternoon, but there would be a $55 surcharge for a Sunday visit, plus an extra charge if they had to make a second trip because their parts supplier isn't open Sunday. This was the lowest surcharge I could find, by far.
We told the tenant the repair person would be out tomorrow. Since the tenant seemed frantic to fix the air, we said they could call the company out today if they were willing to pay the surcharge themselves. The tenant had called around himself and knew companies were available.
It was a high of 81 today and is going into the 60's tonight. So it's not painfully hot. Our air is not on at our house.
The tenant is furious. Did I make a mistake? Should I have paid the Sunday fee to keep a good tenant happy?
I had a similar situation last month here in Las Vegas, where temperatures are pushing 110 degrees. I think the issue here is that you shouldn't have told him about the availability of a Sunday visit, let alone the fee. I could see that the tenant may feel that you don't think he's worth the $55.
I think I would have just told the tenant the company who is contracted to repair the unit will be out as soon as possible, and provide the date/time you have arranged for Monday. If he asks why it will take so long, most companies are really busy during the summer and can't do same day repairs. Given the temperatures in Michigan, I'm sure he can survive a day without AC.
I had a similar situation last month here in Las Vegas, where temperatures are pushing 110 degrees. I think the issue here is that you shouldn't have told him about the availability of a Sunday visit, let alone the fee. I could see that the tenant may feel that you don't think he's worth the $55.
I think I would have just told the tenant the company who is contracted to repair the unit will be out as soon as possible, and provide the date/time you have arranged for Monday. If he asks why it will take so long, most companies are really busy during the summer and can't do same day repairs. Given the temperatures in Michigan, I'm sure he can survive a day without AC.
Unreasonable tenant, but you should have never said they could come out Sunday. You you simply tell them when the repair man is coming as Christopher said.
I run servers in my house - so even at 80 degrees the amount of humidity can cause a problem for me. I own, but to me this is a case by case. If a tenant can live without A/C for 24 hours great - do they have fans for the evening?
if not, maybe it's worth it. You may have paid the additional fee just to have the A/C repair person come out to tell you that it wouldn't be fixed until Monday.
I agree that you should not have mentioned the possibility of a Sunday call out. But you did. In this case I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.
I think 24 hours is reasonable. I believe you were just being honest and letting your tenant know about the Sunday option. Don't beat yourself up over it. If that is your biggest faux pas in being a landlord you're doing great 😊
Thanks to all. I feel better about the decision. Just for clarity, we didn't consider the Sunday option until the tenant requested it. He told us he had called providers and confirmed that they were available on Sunday. Since he knew it was possible, we figured we'd give him the option to pay our preferred Hvac provider the surcharge.
It's been a good run. I hope this doesn't sour the business relationship moving forward!
I run servers in my house - so even at 80 degrees the amount of humidity can cause a problem for me. I own, but to me this is a case by case. If a tenant can live without A/C for 24 hours great - do they have fans for the evening?
if not, maybe it's worth it. You may have paid the additional fee just to have the A/C repair person come out to tell you that it wouldn't be fixed until Monday.
I agree that you should not have mentioned the possibility of a Sunday call out. But you did. In this case I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.
And of course - what does the lease say?
What could the lease say to help here? I wouldn't want to give a specific timeframe, because in a hot spell, it might take a while. Ours broke two years ago when the temps were in the 90s and I couldn't get anyone out for a week.
Jennifer,
24 hours is a good turnaround time on a non emergency work order. Dont let your tenants guilt trip you. If you do feel bad about an issue like that, I suggest you hop on craigslist and pick up a cheap portable A/C unit. They are on wheels and all you do is put the vent hose in the window and plug it into any 110v outlet. I picked up a few for $100 each and they came in handy whenever I had an A/C go out on weekends. But dont feel bad about the A/C going down when its 80 out. At Least its not the 95 we have down here in Florida, hell my home A/C is set at 79.
I think 24 hours is reasonable. I believe you were just being honest and letting your tenant know about the Sunday option. Don't beat yourself up over it. If that is your biggest faux pas in being a landlord you're doing great 😊
Thanks for the encouragement. I always try to be fair with tenants! This is the first time anyone has pushed back. So I started to second guess myself!
Jennifer,
24 hours is a good turnaround time on a non emergency work order. Dont let your tenants guilt trip you. If you do feel bad about an issue like that, I suggest you hop on craigslist and pick up a cheap portable A/C unit. They are on wheels and all you do is put the vent hose in the window and plug it into any 110v outlet. I picked up a few for $100 each and they came in handy whenever I had an A/C go out on weekends. But dont feel bad about the A/C going down when its 80 out. At Least its not the 95 we have down here in Florida, hell my home A/C is set at 79.
Good tip about the portable ac! It was a guilt trip. I've been outside all day and it's very pleasant. It's cool now. Low 70s. We did offer to loan some fans. He said no.
I wouldn't even expect to repair the A/C in my own home that quickly. 24 hours is certainly reasonable. I agree with others, next time just tell them when they'll be there instead of offering options.
I agree with the rest - 24 hrs is plenty. This isn't a broken pipe flooding the house. Your lease should say something about a time frame on when you need to get things fixed by, such as "within 24 hours a technician will be schedule under normal conditions" which would hopefully protect you from freak conditions such as 110 degree temperatures when no A/C guy will be available.
Simply state you have made arrangements for someone to come out on Monday to have a look but do not commit to getting it fixed on Monday since you do not know what the repair company will say. Maybe they will need to order a part that might take time to get. I agree that if your tenant is willing to pay for the call then let them do it but state that its on them. The unit would not be fixed any earlier than Monday in any case that is what I think.
As a landlord we are expected to get things fixed right now. its sad that tenants don't always realize that repairmen are limited and don't drop everything for the next call that comes in. I have people complain all the time about not getting stuff fixed in ten min but i always remind people that companies line work up ahead of time and get to our request as soon as they can. I hardly get things fixed in my house next day.
I had my AC go out during a heat wave a few weeks ago. It was 48 hours before I could get anybody out there through my home warranty company. Sometimes you just can't get somebody there and you have to wait. I would not have offered to let her pay the $55... I would have just said they will be there on Monday.
I agree, you mad the right decision. I've faced similar situations (emergency call to electrician, or wait for morning) and as long as it is not a true emergency, I see no reason to pay the extra fee. And air conditioning here in Michigan right now is not a necessity.
Chances are, they were angry and will get over it once the air is fixed. If you had a portable air conditioner to lend, that would be great, but I don't think that was even needed yesterday. For the record, we haven't even put our window AC's in this year (so far).
Ok, I'll be the first to say it. 81 is painfully hot? LOL, If it were 81 here and an AC unit was out. I'd ask the tenant how they even knew. If they had actually turned the air on I would assume they were just checking the system before spring.
The standard Texas Association of Realtors lease has a line in it that says, "Ordinarily, a repair to the heating and air conditioning system is not an emergency."
If your lease doesn't have that, I'd recommend adding it.
@Michael Hayworth I think she might get her self in trouble adding a line like that in the lease. Michigan often gets sub zero weather. If a furnace goes out in the winter, you have both tenant and plumbing safety issues that I would consider an emergency.
I agree with your decision. I would have contacted a qualified hvac co. & set an appt for Monday requesting an early repair time. Then politely tell the tenant Monday as well.
I run servers in my house - so even at 80 degrees the amount of humidity can cause a problem for me. I own, but to me this is a case by case. If a tenant can live without A/C for 24 hours great - do they have fans for the evening?
if not, maybe it's worth it. You may have paid the additional fee just to have the A/C repair person come out to tell you that it wouldn't be fixed until Monday.
I agree that you should not have mentioned the possibility of a Sunday call out. But you did. In this case I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.
And of course - what does the lease say?
What could the lease say to help here? I wouldn't want to give a specific timeframe, because in a hot spell, it might take a while. Ours broke two years ago when the temps were in the 90s and I couldn't get anyone out for a week.
Sorry for the delayed response -- it seems like it has worked out well. I was looking at it from the stand point of, hopefully the lease didn't put you in a position where you were obligated for 2:00 a.m. calls -- so in this case it would be what the lease doesn't say that helps.
I run servers in my house - so even at 80 degrees the amount of humidity can cause a problem for me. I own, but to me this is a case by case. If a tenant can live without A/C for 24 hours great - do they have fans for the evening?
if not, maybe it's worth it. You may have paid the additional fee just to have the A/C repair person come out to tell you that it wouldn't be fixed until Monday.
I agree that you should not have mentioned the possibility of a Sunday call out. But you did. In this case I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it.
And of course - what does the lease say?
What could the lease say to help here? I wouldn't want to give a specific timeframe, because in a hot spell, it might take a while. Ours broke two years ago when the temps were in the 90s and I couldn't get anyone out for a week.
Sorry for the delayed response -- it seems like it has worked out well. I was looking at it from the stand point of, hopefully the lease didn't put you in a position where you were obligated for 2:00 a.m. calls -- so in this case it would be what the lease doesn't say that helps.
Thanks for the response. It came at a great time. We were working on a lease for a new tenant and a different property and I took this opportunity to put in careful wording that requests for repairs will be responded to within 24 hours during normal business hours, except in the event of an emergency. We specified that A/C and furnace repairs are not an emergency except during extreme weather events. We also stated that the landlord reserves the right to refuse to pay unauthorized repairs.
Of course, we'll always try to respond and repair things in LESS than 24 hours, and we would pay for an unauthorized repair in the event of a true emergency, but now there are appropriate expectations outlined in the lease.
The tenants with the original A/C problem seem to have gotten over it and all is going smoothly again.
Thanks to everyone who responded. It was so helpful! I love this site :-)