Amount to reimburse tenant before becoming a pushover?

[Lucky Tran]

Hi all,

Thanks again to the BP community answering my questions in the past.

Yet again, I find myself in a situation in which I can turn to you guys for advice/opinions.

A tenant was late on paying rent and paid in full when notified.

Since then, a handful of maintenance issues arose and I tended to the issues promptly by calling the fix-it guys the same day. Of course, there's the scheduling of times to access and obtain a bid, etc. These issues are not a safety or health concern, so it's not required by law to be rectified in a week, correct?

However, one pressing issue is a 'leaky' faucet. Maintenance says it's not a big leak so nothing to worry about but there was a delay on fixing for 2 weeks now because he was on vacation last week.

Tenant is furious that it hasn't been fixed and is running up their water bill. I told them to send over the water bills for past few months for comparison and see the difference and perhaps it could be reimbursed if the leak affected their bill that much.

Turns out, its only $5 difference. Really, I don't think the tenant should be complaining about the leaky faucet which is 'cranking' t?up their water bill since it's not that much. At the same time, it doesn't seem to warrant a reimbursement just because they complained about it.

Just for background, previous landlord never did maintenance. Since manaiging this property, I have been pretty good with their concerns and following up. They've been overall happy since I get things done but not this time. I blame it on them being upset paying late fees for last month's rent.

Advice on how to communicate with tenant in situation like this to prevent them becoming aggressive and what do you think warrants reimbursement?

Thanks all!

[Michael Randle]

This sounds like the tenant wanting to save face due to his short comings the previous month. Give him a $5 credit on next months rent and move on. He will feel he won a fight against "the man". And you prevent future fights and found a short coming in your process (no back up handy man). That is a win-win for only a $5 fee.

On a side note, how are you liking Lubbock and where have you invested? I am working on my first deal and would love some insight of you can give me some.