Real Estate Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 447 votes
Tenants die from carbon monoxide poisoning and the landlord was charged with homicide. And you thought you only needed to worry about the rent being late!
Lincoln, NE · Member since 2008 · 249 posts · 46 votes
18y
This is becoming a high risk business and as landlords we should be getting a higher premium for the risk involved. Seriously scary...but this is a prime example of why I do not rent properties that are not in good and all running condition.
Real Estate Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 447 votes
18y
Originally posted by Jason F:
At what point do you start to put some of the fault on the tenants themselves?
Blaming the tenants and asking them to take responsibility for their own actions??? Jason, surely you jest! Everyone knows everything is the fault of the greedy, slimy landlords!
Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
18y
Realistically, though, this was pretty outrageous behavior. No electricity, and putting a generator inside? Would it have been OK if he didn't provide any heat, and put a barbecue grill inside to warm the place? No. What he did is little different.
Property Manager · Portsmouth, NH · Member since 2008 · 102 posts · 13 votes
18y
I think the landlord has a lot of culpability. He put a gasoline-powered generator inside the home? That's just nuts.
I don't have any CO detectors in my properties, but you know what - I should! There's a reason why CO is called the silent killer. You never know you're in danger - just feel tired, go to sleep, and don't wake up.
Manhattan, NY · Member since 2008 · 801 posts · 61 votes
18y
First, that landlord needs to be facing the death penalty. He was renting a house that had been condemned! Then he puts the generator in there? Nope, sorry, roll up his sleeve and insert the needle.
Second, smoke and CO2 detectors are one of the first things we put in every new rental. And, guess what? We actually send someone to change the batteries every six months! Sometimes, the first time we do that with a new tenant the batteries will be missing. But, the lease says if the batteries are missing when we come out to replace them, there is a $75 charge for each unit missing its batteries. A few do it once, but none have done it twice.
Real Estate Investor · Member since 2008 · 340 posts · 34 votes
18y
I am not in anyway going to defend this landlord. We have to police ourselves, because as it is local and state governments are pro-tenant. We don't need to give local governments more reason to restrict landlords.
As it turns out, in my state CO2 detectors are mandatory in residences. In the county I invest in. The rental license inspectors are even more strict. CO2 and smoke detectors have to be in so many places, so many feet from a bedroom and within a certain amount of inches from where the ceiling meets the wall. You get the point.
Is it a pain in the ***? Sure. But, when it comes to personal safety, I could not live with myself, if someone was hurt or killed due to my negligence.
Manhattan, NY · Member since 2008 · 801 posts · 61 votes
18y
Originally posted by Matthew Gil:
Is it a pain in the ***? Sure. But, when it comes to personal safety, I could not live with myself, if someone was hurt or killed due to my negligence.
That is exactly why we were doing this LONG before it was mandatory anywhere.
Real Estate Investor · OH · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 86 votes
18y
A new requirement for us, is that if one smoke detector goes off they all must go off. I was freaking out when this just came out last week, thinking that I would have to have all my smoke detectors professionally installed and hard wired. Until the health inspector who is also a landlord in the city told me that Home Depot sells ones that have sensors in them and will go off as soon as another one goes off in the house.
I haven't looked yet, but they are suppose to run around 60 bucks.