How to react with tenant

[Christophe D.]

Hello to all,

I had to send a contractor to waterproof the basement of my rental unit. The contractor did some concrete stains on the tenant's rug.

The tenant is asking me to refund her the rug. As the contractor is willing to give some little money, who is responsible for the rug?

I have already paid the final invoice to the contractor.

And the rental unit is located in OH.

Do you think I should intervene in order to calm down the situation?

Thank you for your enlightenment.

[Nathan Gesner]

It's the contractor's fault. They should know the risk of damaging personal property and instruct the Tenant to move their belongings out of the way or cover things with plastic. It's probably not a large enough expense to go after the contractor unless this is an expensive area rug. You hired the contractor, so poop rolls downhill. Just do the right thing and buy them a replacement rug. 

P.S. I would not give them cash. Make sure they are paid for a comparable rug, not a bigger/better one, and make sure they don't just take the cash and pocket it.