Tenant Intentional Damage in Oklahoma

[Ryan Brady]

Hello, 

I am a first time landlord and bought my first Triplex in June 2019. I currently use a property manager. 

One of my tenants filed a work order that said the garage door spring was broken. The tenant then removed the garage door from the building, folded it up, and put it in the front yard. The repair man said it destroyed the rails and the door which will both need to be replaced, estimated fix $1000. 

A friend gave me a recommendation for a guy who might be able to offer a lower price. However, I'm more concerned about preventing this sort of thing in the future. 

What prevents a tenant from destroying the garage door every month? Or from say putting the stove in the front yard and asking me to buy a new one? It just seems like he could tear down a brand new garage door the moment it gets fixed and I'd be on the hook to replace it again. It seems more than obvious that this was intentional, I'm guessing there is no legal way to bill the tenant for this sort of thing. Any advice? 

Shortcomings on my end: I bought this house while deployed and have not yet had a chance to view the agreement my property manager has with the tenant. 

Thanks very much for any help.

[Theresa Harris]

@Ryan Brady  Your property manager should be dealing with this.  The fact that the tenant removed the entire door due to a broken spring; they need to pay for it.  The tenant needs to be told (again this is why you pay a property manager) that if something is broken, to let him/her know and they will deal with it.  If the tenant does this again, tell them they need to move.

When the spring breaks, it is really hard to lift the door, but it can be done allowing them to move any vehicle that is inside out...one time and after that they can park in the driveway until it is fixed.