Investor · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 14 posts · 7 votes
A few months ago my tenant e-mailed me and said "We've had 3 bats in the house in the past 2 weeks and this morning one was in our bed when we woke up." The went on to say that they got their rabies shots.
5 days later I get a pest control expert out there and he gave me recommendation for installing one way bat doors and patch up a bunch of small holes on the outside of the home.
A couple weeks after this I was able to get a contractor out there to patch the inside and outside of the home and install one way bat traps. I didn't hear of any more issues after this.
Now my tenant asked me to reimburse both of them for their rabies shots. Their insurance covered some but they still owe $3300. They are good tenants and have been here for several year.
@Paul Salmela
Did they say if they were actually bitten? You can only get rabies if the animal was infected and but you. Not just because it flew by you or landed in your bed.
If they didn’t specifically tell you that they were bitten and they were going to get rabies shots ahead of time it’s not your problem to go feed their paranoia.
A few months ago my tenant e-mailed me and said "We've had 3 bats in the house in the past 2 weeks and this morning one was in our bed when we woke up." The went on to say that they got their rabies shots.
5 days later I get a pest control expert out there and he gave me recommendation for installing one way bat doors and patch up a bunch of small holes on the outside of the home.
A couple weeks after this I was able to get a contractor out there to patch the inside and outside of the home and install one way bat traps. I didn't hear of any more issues after this.
Now my tenant asked me to reimburse both of them for their rabies shots. Their insurance covered some but they still owe $3300. They are good tenants and have been here for several year.
Is this my responsibility? What would you do?
Your lease should cover this. Most leases are written with a clause that releases the landlord from liabilities for these types of things. If your lease has that I do not think you should cover this cost. If you cave & cover this you're going to open the door to more requests in the future. It's a very slippery slope you don't want to go down.
Just wanted to provide an update. I talked with an attorney and was told that I should not be responsible for any of these costs since I acted quickly to remedy the issue. I offered my tenant $1,000 to help pay their bill and they accepted.
Appreciate all the responses!
Thanks for the update Paul! I was curious what ever happened with this situation. Before I read your post a month ago, i didn't even realize rabies shots were that expensive!
Kudos to you for offering to help with the costs despite the attorney saying you weren't responsible.