Maintenance nuisance request clause in lease

[Justin K.]

Does anyone have or does anyone even suggest a clause in a lease agreement that essentially states that stuff like "lights went out in closet ceiling fixture and I'm can't see and can you come fix it?" incur a $50 nuisance fee for the landlord?

Obviously if it's something wrong with the fixture itself but if it's a light bulb and you get a call at 5am wanting you to come fix it immediately, how would you handle that? As a renter common sense would dictate that ,"hey I'll change the bulb" but sometimes we are not dealing with the sharpest knife in the drawer here.

[Kyle J.]

I think a nuisance fee would be difficult to enforce and could even end up backfiring on you.  Suppose a tenant chose not to call about something minor, like a small water leak under the kitchen sink, because they didn't want to be a nuisance or incur a nuisance fee.  The next thing you know something that could have been easy/cheap to fix initially could end up causing significant damage all because the tenant never notified you due to lack of understanding of what constituted a nuisance or over fear of incurring a fee.

Personally, I think a better approach is educating the tenant on what sort of things they're responsible for and what sort of things the landlord is responsible for.  If you get more than 1-2 calls after doing that, you're not being clear enough with them.