Looking for Advice on upcoming Winter Storm

[Zach Goldberg]

Hi all, 

My name is Zach. I'm new to the BP Forum and somewhat new to real estate (<1 year invested). My property is in upstate NY where we are expecting temperatures between -4 and 20 degrees F for at least the next 10 days. I am not conveniently located to access my property in the case of emergency (3-5 hour drive). Any suggestions on what to communicate to my tenants with this frigid forecast? Is it worth it to have them keep the faucets dripping? Open the cabinets under the sink? My main concern is the pipes freezing/bursting. Am I overthinking this / over reacting?

Any thoughts or advice would be helpful! 

[Victor Soni]

Quote from @Zach Goldberg:

Hi all, 

My name is Zach. I'm new to the BP Forum and somewhat new to real estate (<1 year invested). My property is in upstate NY where we are expecting temperatures between -4 and 20 degrees F for at least the next 10 days. I am not conveniently located to access my property in the case of emergency (3-5 hour drive). Any suggestions on what to communicate to my tenants with this frigid forecast? Is it worth it to have them keep the faucets dripping? Open the cabinets under the sink? My main concern is the pipes freezing/bursting. Am I overthinking this / over reacting?

Any thoughts or advice would be helpful! 

This is what we wrote to all our tenants:

Good Morning Everyone!

As you are well aware, it will be a frigid week this week! Temperatures will be falling to -12F on some nights. Please leave your COLD water faucets turned on in the bathroom AND kitchen sinks before you go to bed, every night. If you will be going to work for more than half the day, please leave them on when you go to work as well.

When you wake up in the morning, turn on your HOT water for atleast 60 seconds to get the pipes cleared out.

Plumbers are very expensive, and hard to get to come out during this time of year!

Any questions,

Call our office....

and in our lease agreements, we have this... 

1. Tenant agrees to take reasonable
   precautions to prevent frozen water pipes, including but not limited
   to maintaining adequate heat in the premises and allowing faucets to
   drip during freezing temperatures. If water pipes freeze or burst
   due to Tenant’s failure to take these precautions, such failure
   shall be considered Tenant negligence.

Tenant shall be fully responsible for all costs associated with
unthawing frozen pipes, repairs, and any resulting water damage.
These costs may be deducted from the Tenant’s security deposit as
permitted under Ohio law.

Tenant shall immediately notify Landlord of any frozen or suspected
frozen pipes.

Hope this helps