My tenant wants to take the shower door off?

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My tenant wants to take the shower door off?

Brian Garlington
Realtor · Oakland, CA and a Real Estate Investor with Multi-Family Units and a Self Storage Facility · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes

BP what are your thoughts on this? I have a tenant with an 11 month old that started renting in one of my properties 4 months ago. 

She just sent a text message to me asking if it's OK for her to take the shower doors off because it is difficult to give her son a bath with them on.

Is this a big deal? Should I put some provisions in for this?

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Marcia Maynard
Investor · Vancouver, WA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
9y

As others have said, if you agree to remove the shower doors, have your own handyman do it. We don't like tenants messing with things like this.

You may find the removal of the sliding doors on the tub will actually work out better for you in the long run. Easy to fit with a shower curtain rod and shower curtain. Require her to use a liner inside the tub when taking a shower to prevent splash out.

I agree, it would be more difficult to bathe a child with the shower doors and their metal tracks in the way. Also, the sliding shower doors are harder to keep clean.

When you work with tenants to "make it their own home", they settle in more comfortably and tend to stay longer. Good long term tenants are great to have, so start off with some good will.

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  • Kim Meredith HamptonBusiness Member
    Real Estate Broker · St Petersburg · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    @Brian Garlington I never let tenants do anything like this. If anything, I would have your handyman take care of this. Is there any other way the son can access the tub easily without removing the doors?

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  • Xavier G.
    Tomball, TX · Member since 2016 · 33 posts · 14 votes
    9y
    Brian Garlington , Do you agree with her that it would actually be hard to give her kiddo a bath? I do not know your house set up but I used to give my kiddos a bath either in the kitchen sink with a plastic tub or in the bathtub (still with the plastic tub). I don't see why she would use the shower, it would be very inconvenient. The other question is, is she going to take showers in the same shower? With the door off, it's going to splash everywhere = either damage to what's around the shower or someone slipping, getting hurt = possible troubles for you. Again, not sure what you're exact set up is but I would explain to her nicely that you think it's dangerous and that you'd rather her use other means Hope this helps!
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  • Andrew Johnson
    Real Estate Investor · Encinitas, CA · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y
    Brian Garlington The last thing I would do is let the tenant do it themselves. I'd have a handyman come out and make sure it's done right. While taking doors off sounds like a bad idea you might end up with a tenant that hears "no" and just does it anyway (which is worse).
    2Reply
  • Marcus Johnson
    Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2015 · 663 posts · 512 votes
    9y
    Why not just hire a handyman to remove the shower doors and put curtains in.
    2Reply
  • Matthew Paul
    Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    9y

    I took the doors off mine for the same reason . 

    2Reply
  • Marcia Maynard
    Investor · Vancouver, WA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    9y

    As others have said, if you agree to remove the shower doors, have your own handyman do it. We don't like tenants messing with things like this.

    You may find the removal of the sliding doors on the tub will actually work out better for you in the long run. Easy to fit with a shower curtain rod and shower curtain. Require her to use a liner inside the tub when taking a shower to prevent splash out.

    I agree, it would be more difficult to bathe a child with the shower doors and their metal tracks in the way. Also, the sliding shower doors are harder to keep clean.

    When you work with tenants to "make it their own home", they settle in more comfortably and tend to stay longer. Good long term tenants are great to have, so start off with some good will.

    3Reply
  • Deanna McCormick
    Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    I assume the shower doors slide in a track.. if so,  to remove the doors is rather easy you lift off the top track and lift out the doors,, the side rails and bottom track would remain, so you could put the shower doors back in. They could use a shower curtain with tension rod in the interim.  It's just where to store the doors once they are removed.

    I wouldn't see a issue with it. 

    1Reply
  • Brian Garlington
    OP
    Realtor · Oakland, CA and a Real Estate Investor with Multi-Family Units and a Self Storage Facility · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    9y

    @Deanna McCormick  @Marcia Maynard  @Matthew Paul  @Marcus Johnson  @Andrew Johnson  @Xavier G.  @Kim Meredith Hampton

    Thank you all for your responses. My tenant sent me another text message saying that she really wanted to remove the shower doors because they could barely move. I found this to be a little unusual so I asked why the shower doors could barely move (I lived in the property for 11 years before this and the shower doors always moved smoothly.)

    Turns out that apparently in her words, "A lil screw came loose and I don't know where it went and that's when it started getting harder to move the shower doors."

    I texted her back and said that if a "lil screw came loose and now you can't seem to find it then taking the shower door off is not going to solve the problem because this amounts to a minor repair that needs to be done. In the lease that you signed it says in writing that for repairs that are $50.00 or less, it is the tenant's responsibility and this is something that you can take care of by going to home depot to get another screw and getting a bottle of WD40.....I hope you can appreciate that this is something that you can very easily take care of."

    She texted back saying she would go with her friend to home depot and get this taken care of.

    Starting to wonder a little about this tenant.....a couple months ago she texted me and asked if I could drive 35 miles to her because she locked herself out of the property.....although I gave her two sets of keys when she moved in......Told her I would not be able to do it.....so she called a locksmith and they got her in.....$200.00 later

    Her first month there the bathtub mysteriously ended up having to much water go through the overflow and it started leaking downstairs....at 3:30am.........I ended up paying for a plumber to come out for that one...................

    She's a youngster.....22 years old that passed all the background checks, etc....but it seems like every month or two something comes up with her....

    Meanwhile at my other rental....to a woman in her thirties......no problems........

    Interesting 

    0Reply
  • Max T.
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    9y
    She doesn't k is how to take care of a place. You should train her. Perfect example of why I don't have an auto charge for maintenance in my lease - discourages tenants from being forthcoming about repairs.
    1Reply
  • Jonathan G.
    Investor · Marietta, GA · Member since 2015 · 382 posts · 258 votes
    9y
    We used to have a provision about tenants being responsible for $50 or less in repairs and such. We learned the hard way that tenants actually just hide things from you and $50 problems become $500+ issues thereafter. A 20 something-year-old mom is not someone that would be expected to know how to fix a sliding shower door.
    3Reply
  • Deanna McCormick
    Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y

    You should take the time and go fix the shower door, tenants doing self repair is going to cost you more in the end. 

    2Reply
  • Mindy JensenPro Member
    BiggerPockets Money Podcast Host · Longmont, CO · Member since 2014 · 7k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    9y

    Cannot vote for @Deanna McCormick's advice enough.

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