Frozen Pipes Burst - Who's Responsible?

Question

The other day I received a text form my tenant "I'm just returning from vacation, and it appears the water inside the house was frozen from the tips of the faucet, and I believe the pipes froze and possibly busted".

Well, I had a plumber go out to fix the issue, which was 9 busted pipes, and luckily he got to it before the water in the crawl space reached the furnace. The plumber informed me that there is a vent in the crawl space so if the furnace was on this should have never happened. The tenant told me he turned the furnace down when he left for vacation, but that it was on. I paid for the repair which was $1800, but does anyone have any experience with this? I told the tenant afterwards what the plumber told me, and that the thermostat needs to stay above 65 degrees if they ever leave the house again.

Does anyone have any similar experiences and is this something I should put in my lease to cover this in the future? I feel like it's almost an impossible situation to win. It's basically my word vs. the tenant's.

James Wise · Answer

It would be a good idea to put it on your lease but you have to understand that in this business us landlords are ultimately responsible for everything. Can you try to get the tenant to pay? Yes of course. On paper if you had it in your lease they should be the ones paying but it doesn't always play out like that in real life. As landlords we need to throw away the idea of right & wrong. Instead it must be replaced with what's practical & how to be move forward while mitigating as many losses as possible.You try to get them to pay & they refuse. Either because they can't afford to pay or they don't think that they should be held responsible. What do you do then? Your recourse would be to sue or evict. Lawsuits are expensive & it's very hard to collect from a person with no tangible assets. Evicting because they cost you $1,800 is just going to cost you another $3,000-$5,000.This kind of stuff is part of the game. Remember if the game was easy EVERYONE would be playing it. Tenants do dumb stuff, you gotta get used to that. If they didn't do dumb stuff they'd wouldn't be your tenant. They would be your competition! If they pay all or some of it i'd consider that a bonus, but I wouldn't be throwing good money after bad here.

Wesley W. · Answer

@Pat L. am I misunderstanding your comment? 55 degrees F is quite a bit above the freezing point of water.My one burst pipe was a PEX push-fit connection which was entombed inside a void between a layer of new flooring and and an older floor. Was not fun. Took me hours to get to it.@Dan Shelhamer Here is the part of my lease that addresses your concern:______ 5. UTILITIES: Water and sewer service and curbside trash removal are provided to you. You must obtain and pay for all other utilities. We are not liable for interruption or malfunction in service. You may not occupy your apartment without electric service except during brief interruptions beyond your control. Electric and natural gas service may not be discontinued while you are in possession of your unit. A minimum temperature of 55 oF must be maintained inside your rental unit at all times; damage to the property resulting from you not doing so is your sole responsibility.This $1800 payment might be "tuition" for the next time, when you'll have yourself covered in your own lease. Good luck!

Matt Ransom · Answer

Every winter we send a letter detailing our expectation for things tenants should do to take care of the pipes, etc. during the winter months. We remind them of their responsibility should a preventable issue arise, which is stated in the lease.

Brie Schmidt · Answer

Depends on your lease - like others ours set a minimum temperature. I also message all my tenants in early November and remind them and also suggest leaving the water at a slow drip if hey are going to be gone more than 3 days

Kyle J. · Answer

Seems like with something so important/specific as needing to keep the heat above a certain temperature to avoid the pipes from bursting that there would be a specific clause in the lease that addressed it and spelled out the minimum temperature that needed to be maintained. Otherwise, how would the tenant know that 65 degrees is okay but 60 is not? Different houses would have different temperature requirements (I keep my own house at 62 degrees in the winter when I'm not home). Unless your lease specified a specific temperature that it needed to be kept above - and the tenant failed to maintain that temperature - then I personally wouldn't charge this to the tenant.

Pat L. · Answer

$1800, for that price I sure hope he Pex'd it all. Pex can generally survive down to 55 deg F although I've had it survive hard freezes below that.

Josh C. · Answer

What did your insurance say about this?

Russell Brazil · Answer

Most leases have a clause for proper maintenance of the property. Turning down the heat in the winter is not properly maintaining the property. Also most leases state that the tenant has to inform you when they are going on vacation, and this is for the the very reason of knowing when something bad might happen to the property like freezing pipes or fire.So while freezing pipes is not specifically in my lease, proper maintenance of the property covers this. I simply did not return their security deposit when they moved out, and gave them a list of repairs and the costs on their move out form.

Dan Shelhamer · Answer

@Kyle J. I agree that it needs to be spelled out in the lease, which unfortunately I don't have, but will be adding this into my lease moving forward. I think 62 is an accurate number to keep a house at if you are going to be leaving for a few days.@Wesley W. thanks so much for sending this over. I will definitely be adding this to my lease. Always gotta find the silver lining in everything. I paid $1,800 for a mistake that I won't make again, and based on what I budget for CapEx/Repairs, I am still right on budget for 2017.@Nick Danaluk I guess every area has something related to weather which can cause some serious issues. I will be relocating to the Phoenix area so won't have to deal with freezing pipes anymore, but I'm sure AC units won't be lasting as long out there.@Brie Schmidt thank you for the suggestion! I am going to start messaging them all as well.@James Wise All valid points! Sometimes its not worth making a big deal out of it unless you do want them out. Luckily this is a property with 25%+ cash flow so I am able to pay for it with what I budgeted for repairs, and also believe these tenants will be with me long term. They also paid for 12 months up front which helps.@Cara Lonsdale unfortunately my lease doesn't have anything in it to cover this, but I will be revising and updating my lease.@Dawn Anastasi thank you for the input!

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

I have a clause in my lease that the tenants must keep a reasonable amount of heat to prevent damage to the property.