Landlord charged a fee because tenant didn't let a plumber in

[Yulia J.]

Hi! I will appreciate your opinion. There is a small leak in one of our rental apartments. My husband arranged a plumber to come and fix it, he let the tenant know a day before, and the tenant agreed to let the plumber in. When the plumber showed up at the agreed time, the tenant didn't open the door. The plumber waited for 20 min and left and now charging us a fee. How do you deal with tenants in situations like this?

[Greg M.]

I had the exact same situation a couple months back. The tenant arranged the day/time with the plumbing company we use and she just forgot about it. We told the tenant to call them and reschedule and when she did, they told her that there was a $50 charge for the missed appointment and she needed to pay it over the phone before they would come out again. She paid. Had she not, we would have paid and then charged her and/or deducted it from her security deposit.