Clogged hair results in massive bill

[Bryan Beato]

Hi everyone,

I have a friend of mine who is a renter and was asking for my assistance as a landlord but wanted to seek other opinions.

She has been renting this home for 3 years. First year with a lease and month to month for the 2nd and 3rd year. On time payments every month and I can vouch that she is very clean. In the past few months she has been experiencing drainage issues and called the landlord to get it fixed. The first couple of times the plumber came over the plumber mentioned to my friend that the plumbing overall needs to be fixed for the entire home which would be a large bill. The landlord instead of fixing the whole plumbing system would pay the minimum to get it working again but not addressing the overall plumbing issues.

The last time the clogging happened again the landlord contracted a plumber who later found the issue was much bigger than a simple clog and noted that walls/floor will need to be opened to fix. The plumber noted this was due to hair buildup. My friend was surprised as she said she has always picked up after herself in the shower and that she has never flushed down feminine products.

The issue is that the first couple of bills that were paid by the landlord were no more than $150 each but this last bill is $3000+. Since the plumber mentioned hair buildup the landlord wants my friend to pay. My friend says that she would be willing to pay for a clog removal but not a full plumbing repair that might have been in need of repairs for years for it to get this bad.

my take is that she should work it out with the landlord and come to an agreement but wanted to see how the BP community felt on who should foot the bill.

[Greg M.]

If there is hair buildup, that can be removed with a snake or hydrojet. That's a couple hundred bucks max. 

Landlord is a scumbag trying to stick a capital expense on a tenant.