Landlord or Tenant Responsibility: Garage Door Repair

[Natalie Keller]

hey folks! we are new to being landlords. I would appreciate your input. Earlier today we received the following message from our tenants:

"Hi [...] I wanted to reach out about an incident this morning regarding the garage door. I went to back up and did not realize the garage door was open 3/4 of the way. (Im assuming it stopped due to being too cold) that said my car did hit it and so shayne called a repair guy and he came out and fixed it to be functional. The cost was 550 and we paid it already. The repair guy did say that he recommends getting a new one due to it being 20 years old. I’m not sure what you feel we should do next about payments etc. as it was an accident but the garage door didn’t open all the way. When you are able can you give my husband a call as he was the one who directly worked with the garage repair guy. If you have any further questions I’m more than happy to chat and can call you later in the work day."

I went through our lease agreement and tried to locate some relevant clauses. 

Overall, would we be considered responsible for the cost of the repair? they didn't notify us of the incident when it happened. we are not sure where to go from here. thank you!

[Theresa Harris]

It needs to be replaced because they hit it plain and simple.  That is their fault.  I doubt they can replace a panel or two due to the age.  You could offer to pay for part of it if you wanted.  They did let you know when it happened based on the email they sent.  They just chose to deal with the repair themselves.