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?
Thank you for your help.
Sonja Hill
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