New tenants caused water damage but blame it previous tenant, what should I do?

Question

Hello all,I owned a 3 story condo and leased it out this August. Last week, my tenants report a leaking 2nd floor ceiling. the plumber pulled out a pile of wipes and female hygiene products from the main sewer pipe and claim it cause the leaking in the ceiling. I believe my new tenant who lived in master bedroom has clog the toilet but other girls insisted on previous tenant did it as the plumber unable to tell how long or which 3rd floor bedrooms has cause the leak. 3rd floor has 3 bedrooms, 2 single bedrooms and 1 master bedroom. The 1 of the single bedrooms girl only moved into the house 1 day prior the leak. The other single bedroom girl is a renewed lease tenant, but she left the house on 8/1 and return on 3 days after the leaking. The master bedroom girl stayed in between 8/1 to the day of the leak, although she claims she only moved back 3 weeks before the leak. I highly doubted previous tenants has any responsibility to do with this, as the previous master bedroom tenant moved-out on June 6th and it has been vacant since them until the new tenant moved-in. The other previous tenant has rent the room for 2 years but not one single accident with clogging the toilet. And by looking at the wipes that was pulled out, it appears to be about half packets of baby wipes. If it is months of build-up, it should be more than that amount, and should be leaking soon after the new tenant moved-in. In the lease term, I specifically stated: landlord is not responsible for inappropriate use of toilets, and "tenant shall be charged for repair of drain blockages or stoppages, unless caused by defective plumbing parts or tree roots invading sewer lines."However, new tenants believe the previous tenant cause the damage and they did not throw anything into the toilet.If I have to go the small claim court, should I sue the current tenant OR current tenant with previous tenants?Thank you very much for reading this, I know it is a lengthy and tricky question. I truly appreciate any kind of reply.

Henry T. · Answer

Too bad its not a 55 and over community. Seniors know but the kids don't.

Theresa Harris · Answer

While you know what caused the blockage, you can't prove they did it. Pay for this one and tell them if it happens again, they will be paying as you know the drains are not blocked. Also remind them wipes and feminine hygiene products do NOT get flushed down the toilet.Did you see any wipes in the bathroom (because people aren't always that smart)?

Account Closed · Answer

Anyone with eyes are able to tell that is about half pack of wet wipes. And if the previous tenant flush them down the dragon, why would it wait to be clogged after 4 whole months? Considering how close the 3rd floor toilet is to 2nd floor ceiling, how is it possible for that one pipe to hold months and years of wipes without clogging? How could new tenant prove she didn’t throw the wipes down the drain? By just saying: I didn’t do it?

Account Closed · Answer

Thank you Martin, I appreciate your time on reading and replying this post. The property is a new community that was built in 2019. I don’t think nor the plumber noticed any mechanical issue, the only cause is tenant throw baby wipes and pads or tampons down the toilet that caused built-up and clog.regardless of who did it, I will take them to small claim court as the lease stated very clear that homeowner is not responsible for inappropriate use of toilets and tenants are responsible for drain blockage and back-ups.

JD Martin · Answer

Good luck. You'll be fighting a losing battle. You have no way of proving who did it and your own plumber said there's no way to know how long that stuff has been in there. You'll go into court and say "look at how many is in there, Tenant X must have done it" and any first-year law student will say "What knowledge, expertise and experience do you have in the realm of plumbing drainage systems?" or the judge will ask you the same question.

JD Martin · Answer

You'll have no way of proving if that was done in a day or a month or a year. So I would forget about suing anyone altogether, get it fixed (turn it in on insurance if necessary if the damages are really high), and if you really want to be sure things are straight, get each unit's lines camera'd after the repairs are done and then you'll have to video the line each time someone leaves. That's a pretty big hassle.*Most* of the time these things get hung up on plumbing issues, ie old cast iron lines with tubercles in them, bad bends in the drain line, improper fall, etc. The toilet should be the biggest obstacle for flushing anything, ie once it makes it through the toilet it should make it through the line just fine. So you should have your plumber see what mechanical issue caused a spot where these things didn't just flow on into the sewer system.