Tenant overflowed water from the toliet which caused water damage to the dry : How to handle this situation.

[James Park]

Last Friday, my tenant calls me to tell me that it is difficult to afford the $2175/month rent. She is on a two year contract. In order to not have my property empty while looking for a new tenant, I agreed to let her to pay me $1800 a month/month (which she told me she can afford) until i can find another qualified tenant who can pay $2175. Today her mom overflowed the toliet by flushing it twice where the water has caused damage to the dry wall on the ceiling. Who is responsible for the cost of repair the landlord or tenant. Now I cannot market my townhome for a new tenant until the dry wall is fixed. At first I thought the tenants intentionally did this so that I cannot market my property, but my gut is telling me it was an honest accident. Any advice is welcome for my situation.

[Marc Freislinger]

Tenant-caused damage is paid for by the tenants. Everyone has overflowed a toilet, but if it's cleaned up promptly it doesn't cause damage. (I have 3 kids under 7, I know all about this.)

I would let them know that the cost of the repairs will need to be paid with the next months rent. This should be a fairly quick and easy fix for you to be able to get showing again.

[James Park]

I am afraid they are going to tell me that they have no money. I almost gave them the 5 day notice for last month's rent. It was emotionally very draining on both parties as I told them that i am speaking with my lawyer. We had a major flood in my basement on July 23rd and they were trying to break their two year lease contract stating that I didn't restore the basement fast enough making the contract void. I restored the basement as soon as i could. This is one of the games they were playing.

The mother admitted to me last Friday that her son is not paying his half of the rent. Their W2 showed the mother making $90k and the son told me he was making $45k. The mother admitted to me last Friday that her hours were cut to half and only making $45k. I then realize the core issue is that they are cannot afford the rent and looking to find a new place for $1700/month.

This is why we made an arrangement where we can go month to month until i can find a new qualified tenant, then this thing happens to me today. I already spent $15,000 to restore the basement and reduced my rent for my tenant from $2175 to $1800 and now this. I currently now live in Northern Atlanta and this has very emotionally draining for me and my family. I have learned a valuable lesson to keep all my rental properties within a 45 min drive from where i live.

[Steven Hamilton II]

I'm sorry to hear that, you could think small claims court, and hope for a possible wage garnishment. If I were you I'd just work on getting them out now, so you can stop wasting your time with their games.

[James Endress]

The tenant caused the damage and should pay for it. You should have a clause written in you lease that requires all tenants to have renter insurance which would help pay for the damage caused.