Received this email today

[Justen Ashcraft]

Received this today from a tenant who has been a few days late in the past. I've been gracious. I moved their due date to the 15th so they didn't have to pay a late fee because they were always late. Today is the 20th and this is the email I just received. How would you respond? "I wanted to let you know that I put the rent in the mail today. Rickey and I both have been sick. Rickey has been falling. Unfortunately he fell in the bathroom, not sure how, he fell and broke the faucet in the shower and broke a corner off the back of the toilet, needles to say he is pretty banged up. I need to know if we need to have it fixed?"

[Marcia Maynard]

@Justen Ashcraft

My management style is different than yours.

When enforcing the terms of the rental agreement, I don't do so through texting. When negotiating, I don't do so through texting either. Some situations are best resolved in a face to face meeting and/or with formal written communications.

The text you sent does little to clarify the situation. It doesn't adequately guide the tenant in what you need them to do at this juncture. Nor does it clarify what you will do about the rent situation or how you will deal with the damages... such as exactly what needs to be done, by whom, at who's cost, and when.

I would have delivered/mailed a Rent Past Due letter to the tenant and charged them the late fee as soon as the rent was not received by the due date.  Or, if you have established a grace period, by the end of the grace period. Unless there were extenuating circumstances, I wouldn't have changed the rent due date in the first place. Instead I would have met with the tenants to ascertain if they still could afford to rent the unit and were still capable of fulfilling the terms of the rental agreement.

I wouldn't leave it up to the tenants to fix or hire someone else to fix the shower faucet and toilet. We have clear terms in our rental agreement against tenants doing repairs or arranging for others to do repairs to our property. Instead, as soon as I became aware of the damages, I would arrange to look at the problem and take care of the matter. If the tenant caused the damage, I would bill them for it. If they couldn't afford to pay in full for the repair costs within a reasonable amount of time, I would consider negotiating a payment plan with them.

I would also do a complete property maintenance inspection, with proper notice, as soon as I could. When a tenant breaks one term of a rental agreement, they are likely to be in non-compliance with other terms as well, so keeping a closer eye on the situation is warranted.

Be aware! You have more going on here than just damages to the bathroom. You have a tenant who is a fall-risk. You may need to install grab bars in the bathroom and handrails elsewhere on the property. If the tenant injures themselves on your property, you better be prepared with a good insurance policy and documentation that you have properly maintained the property and were not negligent in any way.

Good luck!