Tenant Personal Items

[Carl W.]

Hello all,

I had repairs done in tenant's unit and they had a meltdown over damaged property. Tenant still seems to believe I am responsible for their personal items. (We've had a prior incident but tenant dropped it after I said no.) But when I said no this time, tenant wanted to exchange words with the contractor. I felt that was inappropriate. Apparently, the two parties had a conversation before work even started after concern was expressed by the tenant. Tenant took contractor's word that everything was fine and did nothing. (The particular area the contractor was working in was clear so the contractor felt confident that things were indeed fine.) However, damage occurred anyway as a result of the nature of the work being performed. My response to the tenant was that expressed concern meant risk was known beforehand and proper steps should've been taken to protect property regardless.

I'm struggling to find a nice way to reinforce the fact that I am not responsible for tenant's personal items. I've already referred them back to their lease agreement. I thought this issue was resolved after the last incident.

I now dread having repairs done in the unit. I feel like I need to stay and supervise every second to make sure personal property is protected. Not to mention, it's becoming increasely difficult to find people who'll agree to return to the unit to perform repairs due to tenant's behavior.

How would you handle this?