Dishwasher leak - tenant responsible?

Question

Question on responsibility. Tenant reported a dishwasher leak. Dishwasher is less than 3 years old. Cause of leak was determined to be the door gasket. It was pulled from the channel and was loosely hanging down on one side. Handyman reports cause was most likely from improper loading/unloading the racks. When they pulled the rack out items may have caught some gasket and pulled it from the channel. Tenant oblivious to hanging gasket.

I have recently replaced a garbage disposal at the same rental/tenant that was maybe 5 yrs old. Way short of the avg life of a disposal. I know that garbage disposals are not popular to some but I have more than a few SFH rentals with disposals and have had no issues in over a decade. I am certain it went due to misuse but I covered this one.

In sum this tenant in general lacks awareness and seems to cause a lot of issues that could be avoided with some sort of basic effort when operating equipment.

That said, appliance repair /replacement is my responsibility as per lease. However, in this case I believe the cost of the service call should be on the tenant. Service call only - no water damage due to the leak. Thoughts?

Thank you!

David Peschio · Answer

The responsibility for this issue should fall to you, unless the maintenance technician provides clear and obvious evidence that the tenant was the cause of the problem.

Chris Seveney · Answer

This is on you. They can guess what caused it but without hard evidence, its on you as the landlord.

Russell Brazil · Answer

Landlords responsibility

Theresa Harris · Answer

I'd have a chat with your tenant and explain about the seal on the dishwasher and remind them if something doesn't look right, call you and don't use it.  For the garbage disposal, do the same-remind them what can and can't go down the sink (well tell them nothing other than water down the sink).

Kenneth Garrett · Answer

@Bill Springer

I know being a landlord can be frustrating, but these types of repairs are the landlords responsibility.  Without actual proof, the landlord is responsible.  I only have one rental with a garbage disposal and had it replaced after 5 years.  Just like plumbing blockage, I will unblock it once after that it is on the tenant.  Of course, this is subject to verification of the problem.  I try to make sure to find the source and instruct the tenant not to flush certain things down the toilet.  Female products, kids toys and all sort of things you would not think you need to mention.

Best of Luck.

Sean McKee · Answer

Like others have said, this is unfortunately your responsibility.  Depending on the area and the types of units you have, you might want to consider not installing dishwashers or garbage disposals.

If they don't have it, they can't break it.

Kevin Sobilo · Answer

@Bill Springer, I agree with the other responders.

I follow your reasoning and the tenant MAY have been caused by a tenant error, but the tenant isn't expected to have any special knowledge about how things work. I would bet a third of tenants don't realize what a gasket does and if they did know would not think to look at that and correct it on their own.

However, if the tenant did NOT report the issue timely and let the issue continue to where there was water damage caused by their delayed reporting THAT would have been something you could have charged them for as long as the water issue was apparent to them.

As for the garbage disposal. You may be right that hard use or misuse may have been the cause of premature replacement, but did you give the tenants a complete lesson on garbage disposal use? I suspect not! Like anything else "wear and tear" related its a subjective range of use and without clear proof to show ABUSE its still "wear and tear" and not damage either.

In my own experience, I deal with this more with washers and dryers. Those are hard working appliances and they break down a LOT. I don't budget based on how often they SHOULD break IMO. I base it on the history of how often they DO break with how tenants treat them on average. As long as my budgeted maintenance is covering these issues,there is no reason to be bothered when they do break and try to assign blame/responsibility to the tenant when none is clear.

Dishwasher leak - tenant responsible?

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