When is it considered renter's negligence?

Question

I have a condo that's currently being rented out. A couple months ago, my renter contacted me saying the floor under the hot water heater was wet. Turned out it was b/c the water heater temperature was too high and the steam released from the relief valve made the floor wet. I told them to turn the water temp down and advised them to not keep the temp too high, esp since the weather was getting warmer.

This past weekend, they come back from vacation, and there's water gushing out of the relief valve, which ended up severely damaging the unit below since they were away. At first I thought it was just bad luck that the relief valve happened to break all of a sudden. But when I sent a plumber out to get it fixed, it turns out that the water heater temp was on high, which caused the water heater to overheat and burn out the relief valve.

Since I had already advised my tenants to not keep the water temp on high, esp during the summer months, does this incident make it their negligence? I already started a claim with my insurance, but I'm wondering if this should be their responsibility knowing now that it was b/c they had kept the temp too high when they were advised not to?

Would this fall under renter's negligence or does it all fall on me?

Thanks!

Stacy

Wayne Brooks · Answer

If the hot water heater didn't function properly at one of it's proper temperatures, it was defective. That's like saying don't drive a car over 50 mph because it will overheat, due to a failing water pump.

Steven Torrez · Answer

In my personal opinion it would fall on you. The hot water heater is designed to be operated at any temperature setting you set it to. It sounds like it was failing a couple months ago. How old is the hot water heater? (How hot it is outside doesn't affect the temp of the hot water heater because the thermostat would shut it off when it reached its set temperature.) Whenever I go out of town for any more than a couple days I shut my hot water heater off mostly so I don't pay to heat water that isn't being used but this would be another good reason.

Stacy Weng · Answer

Thanks everyone for the input! The water heater is only a few years old, and I never had any problems with it when I lived there prior to renting it out, which is why it being defective never really crossed my mind. I'm not a water heater expert obviously, but I had heard that setting the temperature too high when it's also hot out could cause the water heater to get too hot and overheat, but maybe I was misinformed. So I guess in this case, I'll just leave my insurance to handle it.

Ralph R. · Answer

@Stacy WengOh I am sorry to hear this. Sorry for your bad luck.The relief valve is a safety device placed on a water heater to keep it from exploding when pressure builds up inside the heater as heated water expands. They have a spring inside them that allows them to open and excess pressure to escape. The spring can get weak over time or rust can also cause the vale to not seal properly. The worse scenario is the heater could have malfunctioned over heated the water and ruptured. As the other poster said you should not be able to set the water heater to a temperature to high to pop the relief valve. This one is your fault, as you didn't have a Plumber change the valve, or replace the water heater if its overheating the water. Your options here are limited. The responsibility of the water heater is yours. Also the downstairs neighbor is somebody you have to deal with the rest of the time you own the condo. what kind of relationship do you want with them?? You probably better be on the phone to your insurance company ASAP. In my state you would need to make the lower unit whole again, including a place to stay and repairing the damage. I'm sorry you had to learn such a tough lesson. Maintenance is a very cheap thing when compared to something like this. Anything related to water, gas, electric, and heat/AC ALWAYS needs immediate PROFESSIONAL attention. (I say professional because then they become responsible if something goes wrong) Its always cheaper to maintain these things than to face the music when they break.Again I am sorryRR

Brandon Battle · Answer

In my opinion,you should be speaking to an attorney about any liability on their part.To me it's a 50/50 chance of winning depending on the judge.Your argument is they deliberately disobeyed you after you told them not to turn up the temperature.However,they will argue you failed to replace a defective water heater with a new one that wouldn't have had this problem at the higher temperatures.It's a toss up.