Rental Damage Advice Desired

[Cathy B.]

Hello,

I am a landlord to 1 single family property and I'm now trying to figure out how to handle some possible tenant misuse of some appliances. The appliances are in good working order except for these damaged pieces.

1) I have a dishdrawer dishwasher (which means two separate independent drawers) and one of the handles is now broken. I saw a youtube video from an appliance repair person that indicated that the earlier models had a design flaw in which the handles would break at the plastic connection. Replacement parts were redesigned and do not have this flaw. However, the manufacturer does not seem to admit to the flaw and handles can only be ordered in pairs. So, can I charge the tenant for breaking the handle? (taken out of deposit, of course) If so, do I charge them for one handle, or two?

2) I have a refrigerator/freezer with a bottom drawer in the handle is broken near both of the connections and is now loose. From the scrape on one side of it, I assume that someone dropped a large object on it and it snapped. The appliance manufacturer no longer offers a replacement part. My plan is to repair the broken connection with JB weld and tighten up the screws, maybe re-coat with some silver paint. I assume I can take the cost of the materials out of their deposit. Is this how you would normal approach this kind of thing?

Pics attached for reference.

Any advice is appreciated!

-Cathy

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Cathy B., I personally would not charge for these types of issues because I cannot say with any reasonable degree of certainty that the tenant caused the damage because they abused the appliances.

In one case you believe there may be a manufacturer's defect which immediately mitigates any potential tenant liability. In the other case, the crack is at the weakest point in the handle system.

If there was a dent in the front of the appliance, that would be clear damage caused by misuse by the tenant or their guest. In this case, I cannot say that based on the info I have seen here with enough certainty.

So, me I would not charge for these items and I would proceed with the fixes you describe as they sound like they make good sense.