Tenant made unauthorized upgrade

[Stephanie Kiel]

Hi all, I am a fairly new landlord in northern Virginia, and have been renting my 2 bedroom town home for the last two years. I just had new tenants move in and within two weeks, the closet shelves in the master bedroom (wire) collapsed on one side. I hired a contractor to repair the damage, and reinstall the existing shelves within a few days of the issue being reported to me.

While the contractor was on site, the tenants then bought new shelving after the contractor told them wire shelves tend to collapse (I was not made aware of any damage to the shelving itself that would otherwise have made it impossible to re-install properly). The tenants then sent me receipts for the supplies and new shelving they purchased and asked the contractor to instal, and asked for reimbursement. I never authorized a change in shelving, or purchase/installation of new shelves (I did authorize restoration of the closet shelving to its original condition, installed properly). That said, I offered to cover half of the unauthorized costs, and reminded the tenants that alterations/modifications require prior written approval. They have since quoted Virginia statute at me stating I am required to provide a living environment that doesn’t cause hazard to life, and the wire shelves were a hazard to life. One of the tenants is a lawyer. I’m just uncertain of where to go from here. have others dealt with similar issues? I worry that if I reimburse them for the total (only $200) it will set a precedent this early in their tenancy that they can make whatever upgrades they want and then charge me for them. I also don’t want to deal with a lawsuit, or in trying to get rent if they just deduct the shelving from monthly rent dues. Open to any and all advice!

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Stephanie Kiel, even though they are a lawyer I would ignore them. The FIRST thing a lawyer will try is to bully people. Its a common first step for a lawyer to send a letter threatening action knowing that it costs them virtually nothing but has a fair chance at getting a positive response.

Is it worth this lawyers, time, money and effort to try to sue you over something small like this? I doubt it. Worst case if you lose you pay what they are asking and a small court fee but I honestly doubt they would waste their time. How would they win anyways unless they sued the manufacturer of the shelving their claimed was a hazard. Any judge would see not including the manufacturer as an admission that their assertion was disingenuous on its face.

If you absolutely feel the need to respond, I would first contact code enforcement and ask them "I am thinking of installing wire shelving in my property. Someone said those were some kind of hazard. Does the municipality consider them unsafe and ban them being installed?" When they say "Of course not", you can respond to the lawyer that you contacted the municipality and confirmed that wire shelving is not considered a hazard or habitability issue so they can put their mind at ease. 

In the future, I would instruct any going to work on the unit specifically NOT to talk to the tenants. The contractor talks and takes direction only from you and the tenant also communicates only with you.