Tenant wants to buy his own fridge
Good morning all,
I have a quick question for the community. One of my tenant from my rental that is currently managed by property manager. I received a text from tenant that the freezer is not working and his food is going bad. Property management company cannot get to fix the issue until Monday which will be 5 days later. Tenant is asking me if he can buy his own fridge since his food is going bad. I know refrigerator is included in the lease but from a legal point of view, should I allow him to get his own fridge if yes under what conditions, or should I tell him to wait until Monday.
Thank you all
Is the resident asking to purchase and then expects the owner to reimburse him? If this is the case, tell him no. You do not want to give control to the resident to select a replacement.
If the resident is offering to purchase and remove when they move out with no expectation of reimbursement, then it's not necessarily a problem. If this were my resident, I would tell them I expect to put the old refrigerator in the garage (or somewhere secured, inside, on property that it will stay plugged in), and they have to allow a vendor to come in to fix it. This way, it will be working and ready when you release it to a new resident someday.
If they have food that went bad, I insist residents take pics of what was damaged and then provide a receipt for the replacement items. (Up to a reasonable amount).
I hope that helps.
Thank you. Yes it does help. Since refrigerator is part of the lease I don't want to be accused of breaking the lease by allowing him to get his own fridge since this tenant has been difficult to deal with in the past.
#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
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#2 Managing Your Property Contributor
- Property Manager
- Royal Oak, MI
Why did you make appliances part of the lease?
Very common for Metro Detroit lease's to have a clause stating appliances are, "as-is, where-is and landlord will not repair or replace".
Solves your problem.
Otherwise, find a local appliance store online (Home Depot, Lowes, Costco, Best Buy etc) and YOU select the replacement and send the link to your PMC.
Then you can credit the tenant the purchase price.
Wouldn't recommend opening the can of worms about reimbursement for spoiled food!
If worst comes to worst, consider telling the client that you'll reimburse them for a styrofoam cooler (the super cheap ones) and some bags of ice (also cheap).
Drew is right about not opening a can of worms with the food reimbursement. By stating the parameters and specific dollar amount for the cooler and ice you can control the costs and provided a fair solution. All-in it shouldn't be more than $20 for a cheap cooler and some ice to last 5 days. Plus, you don't want a tenant moving a big piece of furniture like this. It's a recipe for dinged doorways and scuffed floors.
Good luck and please let us know how it turns out!
@Gina Nicolas as @Account Closed mentioned, you need to determine his expectation of reimbursement. If he wants to buy a refrigerator and agrees to pay the cost, get it is in writing. I had a tenant who didn't like a stove and said, "I will just buy it and take it with me when I leave". When it came time to move, they wanted me to buy the stove from them. They tried to sell it for what they paid two years earlier!. I ended up buying it for fair market value (Facebook Marketplace price). It turned out fine, but it is really best to have these things documented in writing.
If you are paying for the refrigerator, I would pay for it directly and have it delivered.
@Drew Sygit I am not sure if this property is in Detroit, but in many parts of the country it is expected that landlords provide and repair appliances. This seems to be very regional and property type or class plays into it too.
Good afternoon,
This community has been so helpful. I like the idea of the styrofoam cooler and 5 bags of ice should hold until Monday when the property management will go check it.
By the way, the lease is from my property management company and I didn't know that I can have "Landlord will not repair or replace" but now I know.
Thank you all
How did the tenant get your name and number? If you can get a copy of the lease then you could figure out if the clause that Drew described is already in your lease.
Hi Joe, all my tenants have my name and number since I am very involved with my rentals even though I have a property management. From my experience with my property management company, they take a long time to address issues and they can be very expensive. Just to send someone take a look at an issue, they charge 200 dollars dispatch fee, so many times, I have been taking care of the repairs.I am looking for another company but in the meantime I stay with them because I am out of state and the city requires someone within 25 miles from the rental to represent the landlord, but I will take a look at the lease.
thank you
As some have pointed out not enough info is provided. Knowing the tenants expectations of being reimbursed or not is key here.
If they do not want to be reimbursed and this will become "their" fridge and they will take it when they leave then I see no issue with this.
If this is something that you are going to reimburse for you or your property manager can order it online yourself right now in most cases. We just did this this week for a tenant whos fridge went out. We looked at Home Depot and Lowes and found the right fit and ordered. In this case we trashed the old one as it was beyond repair and also have them doing the haul away.
Might be something you can handle remotely if your PM can't.
#3 Investor Mindset Contributor
- Handyman
- Pittsburgh, PA
Originally posted by @Gina Nicolas:Hi Joe, all my tenants have my name and number since I am very involved with my rentals even though I have a property management. From my experience with my property management company, they take a long time to address issues and they can be very expensive. Just to send someone take a look at an issue, they charge 200 dollars dispatch fee, so many times, I have been taking care of the repairs.I am looking for another company but in the meantime I stay with them because I am out of state and the city requires someone within 25 miles from the rental to represent the landlord, but I will take a look at the lease.
thank you
I self manage and only live a few blocks from all my tenants. This is one of the good reasons why. FIVE DAYS to replace a fridge? You know what happens during each of those five days?
The tenant's going to go off to work and complain for five days straight to their coworkers about their lack of a fridge and that their landlord is a cheap-a** so-and-so. All the other people in their office/place of work are going to stand around the water cooler, nod along, and then trade stories about their own cheap-a** so-and-so landlords.
Now let's say it's one of my tenants. I buy a new one online and get delivery set up for two days later. The call is made to the grateful tenant, and the whining at work only lasts two days. But then the tenant's other coworker's fridge dies. And that takes five days to replace. And my tenant listens to the coworker's grouching every day and the horror stories traded by their coworkers and thinks, "Hmm, I guess I've got it pretty good."
Every interaction is an opportunity to sell your tenant on your brand. No landlord ever went out of business because of the cost of replacing busted appliances quickly, especially after a few years in the business gaining an understanding of which appliance models hold up consistently and which don't. I am so far ahead on appliances right now I can barely believe it.
Get it in writing that the tenant is going to purchase the appliance with no expectation nor guarantee of reimbursement. I do not foresee you having an issue with this but the above should cover your a**.
Its probably worth it to replace the fridge for your tenant. More practically, you’ll want to make sure the new fridge is level and that the doors are able to close. An former tenant burned out the motor on her freezer twice because she it would go out of level and she waited too long to notify us that she was noticing ice crystals forming on the food. The door wasn’t sealed closed. Upon further inspection, she was also stuffing her freezer to the point the she really couldn’t close the door. So. We had to constantly educate her on ensuring doors closed and to notify us at first sign of ice crystals. When the new tenant moved in, we did the same.
This is why PMs are so challenging to deal with. First, I would never put in my lease that the appliances are "as-is" and are not going to be repaired. That is a quality issue. Either you are supplying working appliances or not.
5 days is unreasonable for a management company to fix/replace a fridge. The tenant's food is going to waste. Depending on the fridge, this can be a $400 - $1,000 problem (scratch/dent) delivered that is a cap ex tax deduction. I would be taking issue with the PM company. What is taking them so long, and they should be responsible for the spoiled food.
You have a PM company so you don't have to deal with these issues.