Pass on cloged drain bill to tenants?

[Mark Forest]

The tenants called me and said the laundry room drain was backing up. We called a plumber/drain cleaner company because we like to get on these things immediately, and I will not be available for a while. The plumber cleaned the clog and said he found stringy threads like on a mop clogging the pipe. The tenants have been there for over a year, so obviously they have been careless by allowing inappropriate things down the drain against the terms of the lease.

Would any of you pass the $250.00 bill on to them or wait till the next time after sending them a letter about proper disposal using drains?

[Eric Black]

@Mark Forest Since they basically admitted to causing the issue, what about splitting the cost with them? And be sure to get something in writing stating that costs for any future clogs determined to be caused by the tenant (i.e. not tree roots) will be the responsibility of the tenant.

Just an idea. We have handled situations like this with tenants before.