My tenants have 2 small children. I had a phone call day before yesterday from the owner of the condo downstairs from my rental condo. She had water dripping from her closet ceiling. My tenants were not home but had a friend over watching their kids. The friend told me the kids had been playing in the toilet putting things in there and stopped it up causing it to overflow. He said he fixed it. When I talked to my tenants the husband told me the toilet stopped up a couple of weeks prior and he rented a snake and unstopped it. They also told me the garbage disposal was not working and water had backed up from the garbage disposal. They denied their kids put anything in the toilet or that they put anything in the garbage disposal.
I called a plumber and it cost me $150 to have the plumber remove a wooden toy from the toilet and a piece of plastic from the garbage disposal. I had to call a company to come out to the downstairs unit to remove the wet drywall and carpet padding — the water damage was extensive involving the ceiling in the master bath, master bedroom and master closet as well as the carpet and pad, and drywall to about a foot above the baseboards in the closest. Dryout was yesterday and today and the “put back” will be next week. I have no idea what the final cost will be for those repairs.
My question is, can I make my tenants reimburse me for the costs of the plumber and the drywall repairs since their negligence caused the damages?
Sonja, I am sorry to hear about your plight. You need to check your lease agreement to see what it states about damages to the property. The tenant should pay reimburstments for the damages, but if it is not spelled out clearly in the lease, it may be difficult to recover money for your losses. We encourage landlords to require tenants to carry a seperate renters policy. Most of these policies cover floods and fire damage caused by the tenants deglect.
Make sure you have pictures of the damages and documentation from the plumber and restoration company. Your insurance policy should cover most of the damages.
I hope this helps,
Troy
10:56 am November 24, 2008
Sonja
Guest
3
Thanks for your prompt reply. My rental agreement does specify that the tenant is responsible for damages caused by misuse or abuse. It also encourages them to get a renter's insurance policy. Can a landlord actually require a renter's policy? The plumber took and emailed a picture of the wooden toy he removed from the toilet and told me he removed a piece of plastic from the garbage disposal. The company making the drywall repairs has sent me photos after removing the drywall and the estimate for repairs is $3,400. I have insurance but am afraid that if I make a claim, I will loose my coverage and won't be able to get replacement coverage. Do you know anything about that?
Call and speak with your agent about the coverage you have on your policy. Every policy is different. Insurance is there for emergencies like this. Keep me informed with your progress.
Login
Register
Search 
Forums
Topic RSS 