Advice - Who is liable for certain repairs

[Alan Kahanu]

Need some advice on whom is liable for damages on tenanted rental property.  I am the owner of this rental.  Out of state property manager was notified by tenant of 'water leak from slab in kitchen' at the end of July.  Plumber went out and couldn't find leak.  This week, 2 months later,  the PM sent another maintenance person out and found 2 issues:

1. water leaking from the ice box water line.

2. hole in bathtub floor that wasn't there in August 2017.

Along with that, they provided an estimate for the extensive water damage due to these 2 issues.  Both of these water leaks damaged the kitchen base cabinets (brand new and installed in Aug 2017) resulting in moldly cabinets along the inside bases, damaged water resistance vinyl laminate floors in kitchen, damage to living room wood laminate floors, and a bedroom with moldy carpet due to leak from the the hole in bath tub.  All need to be replaced.

Who is liable?  Of course as the owner I'm leaning toward partial liability to tenant for creating the hole in the tub that leaked water to the bedroom and damaged carpeting; as well as partial liability to PM for waiting 2 months to fix the leaking ice box water line which worsened the wet cabinets that resulted in mold.

PM sent me the estimate and asking how I want to proceed.  Besides getting a couple more quotes, the question is who is liable.

I plan on repairing, paying the @$10k, and work with them after the fact.  I do not have an attorney.

Thanks

[Nathan Gesner]

Your property manager should already have these answers. The fact you are posting on here tells me they are unwilling to help you make the hard decisions or even offer you guidance. It may be time to find a new PM.

If the tenant put a hole in the tub, that is beyond ordinary wear-and-tear. They are responsible for repairing/replacing the tub and any additional damage caused by the water leaking out. Your property manager should notify them immediately and then pass the invoices on to them as they come in. If the tenant fights the charges, you should consider taking them to court to recover the cost.

It's hard to know where to lay the blame without seeing all their communication. The tenant initially reported it and the PM initially looked into it. Did the tenant continue to report problems? Did the PM continue to act or did they just ignore it? 

What damage was caused by the tub and what damage was caused by the leaking water line? It sounds like most of the damage is in the kitchen, probably from the water line. I don't know who's responsible for that without knowing if the tenant was reporting it or how the PM was responding.

The steps I would take:

1. See if insurance will cover any of the costs.

2. Notify the PM that the tenant should be held liable for the bathtub repair and/or replacement, as well as any damage directly tied to water leaking from the tub.

3. Ask questions to ascertain what the tenant communicated and how the PM responded. We know the tenant reported it quickly and the PM acted quickly, but did anyone follow up? If the tenant continued to report it but the PM failed to respond, then the PM may be liable. If the tenant failed to report it again then you can't blame the PM for not responding.