Are broken fridge water lever and carpet stretching normal wear and tear?

Question

I have a tenant that broke the fridge water lever off. Like the part where you press with the cup to get the water to shoot out, broken clean off. You can stick your finger up in the hole and pull on it and still get water.

In all the fridges I have now and have gone through over the years (at least 6 off the top of my head), and in all the fridges I have ever personally used or seen in all of my memory, I have NEVER seen this happen. I was planning to charge the tenant as the only way I can see the lever breaking off is being too rough with it, but then I saw this thread with the control panel hanging off and the consensus seemed to be that this was normal wear and tear. I actually have seen that before and I would agree, but I still feel like they broke the lever and I should charge them. It was possibly even one of their kids just pressing too hard or not being watched or whatever. Thoughts?

I also noticed that the carpet has several buckles in one room that were not there before. They have a lot of large/heavy furniture (and a LOT of 'stuff' in general), and I am thinking they have probably moved a lot of their large items around by pushing/dragging across the carpet (just a guess on my part, but the carpet was fine before). It is also very stained and dark/dingy, but that is another matter. I think it will need re-stretched in that room. I have also never seen carpet that was properly installed and fine at move-in need re-stretched at move-out, and I suspect they caused this with the way they have used it. They will have been there almost 3 years when they move out if that matters. Should I charge them for stretching the carpet or is this considered normal wear and tear?

Bryan N. · Answer

I've had the fridge water lever break on mine before. I definitely wasn't abusing it. It just wore out.

Adam Johnson · Answer

My vote is all items, including the oven element, are normal wear and tear. With a tenant in a unit for 3 years, I think you have done well if these are the only repairs that you have to do.

Regarding the element in the oven, when they burn out, it is not uncommon for there to be spot that either melted completely through or most of the way through. I am not an expert, but have replaced my fair share of them to think that not cleaning the oven doesn't have a lot to do with when they fail. They are a wear part and sometimes just plain wear out.

Carpet, definitely a wear item. Dawn dishwashing liquid does a great job in a wet cleaner. I actually learned this after cleaning carpets in a vacant unit using carpet cleaner. The next tenant asked if I minded if she tried to get them even cleaner. I told her to give it a shot, we had cleaned them 3 times already. She showed me what they looked like afterward and I was embarrassed to see that she did a much better job than we had! That was her secret sauce and it worked very well. We now use that on most of our carpet cleaning jobs.

Bill Gulley · Answer

IMO, both are normal wear and tear items. The prior tenant could have easily cracked the lever, the current tenant used it prudently and from the damage, the straw that broke the camel's back. If the furniture is residential stuff, the carpet should be installed to handle it, even heavy carpet needs re-stretching. You really can't show that the current tenant was negligent. :)

Rusty Scott · Answer

I had a lever break in my own house, so yes it does happen. They are typically thin plastic...and unfortunately not a cheap part to replace. Think mine was like $125.

Bryan N. · Answer

I'll take that all day long.

Mike Palmer · Answer

Thanks all for the insight.

The heating element in the oven was clearly damaged by there being an excessive amount of food on it that created a hot spot and burned through the element. There was food splattered ALL over the inside of the oven. So bad that it was nasty just replacing the element. They did the same thing to the microwave--never cleaned it and sloppy with food flung in every corner. The metallic piece at the top that covers the magnetron or whatever was scorched by having food all over it that created hot spots.

I have also had NUMEROUS (and very expensive) plumbing problems due to the amount of food and debris they put down the drain. I replaced both of these and handled all the plumbing expense on my time/dime. They explained that the fridge lever just 'broke' one day while using it, but I just kind of don't know about that. At least as @Bob Hucker says I could have used that lever for 20 years and it would be like new.

Sounds like the general consensus is that all of this is wear and tear though. It is not the worst thing I have done for them so I guess I can live with that, it is just irritating because of the way they are and I really believe it was broken/damaged from excessive force. Overall though the unit appears to be fairly clean with no other damage and shouldn't take much to be ready to re-rent.

Bob H. · Answer

You could at least ask them what happened to the water lever and see what they say. You're probably stuck for the repair cost, though.

I had seemingly good tenants who broke the handle off a microwave door. I found some blog posts about people having trouble with the doors on that model, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I bought a new door on ebay or amazon and fixed the microwave. I often think, though, that I could have used something like that myself for 20 years and it would still be fine. :)

Mike Palmer · Answer

We are pro-landlord.

The fridge lever has been broken for some time now and I have not taken care of it. I have already done a few things that I feel should have been on them (for example the oven heating element burned out because it was so caked with food and crap that it created a hot-spot that burned through and I replaced it for them), but I felt the fridge lever was specifically damaged/broken by them.

And on the stretching yes it does not cost a ton, but should I pay for it or should they? Is it normal wear and tear (in either of these items) or damage? I just don't normally see this kind of stuff happen without being treated abnormally. In all the homes/apartments I see you rarely see carpet needing restretched. This carpet had been in place a few years before (and still looked nearly new) and logically thinking it seems it would have stretched or settled or whatever already.

They are actually in charge of having the carpet professionally cleaned, but I am worried with how bad it looks that it is not going to come clean. In that case how do I determine a value for the stains they caused that don't come out? They told me they actually had it professionally cleaned once while they have lived there as well, and I have not really noticed these particular stain spots previously. Hopefully they will come out, but I am a little skeptical.

Joel Owens · Answer

Is your state pro-tenant or pro-landlord??

If it favors the tenant and they fight it the judge might rule against you,

Re-stretching and cleaning the carpet doesn't generally cost that much. You might be able to find a part to replace for the fridge for cheap.

I would care more that they get out of the unit on time so you could re-rent the place and not lose another months rent. It's all situational how you might proceed.

Are broken fridge water lever and carpet stretching normal wear and tear?

Are broken fridge water lever and carpet stretching normal wear and tear?

Most Popular Reply

10 Replies