Tenant Cracked Ceiling From Walking in Unfinished Attic

[Shannon Robinson]

Hello Friends, 

I recently became a landlord, so still learning all the ends and outs. But trying to be the best landlord I can. 

My tenant just let me know her son was in the attic trying to get something they were storing up there and took a step that ended up cracking the ceiling below. 

I've never personally been in the attic of the house because it's unfinished and you'd need a ladder to reach the door. I had no idea they were storying things up there (she's lived in the house 10 years before I bought it). 

I'm going to get it fixed right away, but I feel like that's outside of normal "wear and tear" and would be her responsibility to pay for it since it's an unfished attic and not for people to walk around in. But there's nothing in my lease specifically about not using the attic as storage, so the other option is that I pay for it, ask her to take all her items being stored up there out, and draw up a clause about not using the attic moving forward. 

Wisdom and thoughts welcome! Thank you in advance!

[Theresa Harris]

She admitted he broke it.  Get it fixed and bill her for it.  If there is no ladder to the attic, they shouldn't be storing stuff up there.  If they are, they should have put plywood down to walk on.