First investment property - New tenant issues

[Shirlin Yiu]

Hello BP community!

Would like to seek some collective wisdom from the group.

We just bought our first investment condo out of state. We inherited a new tenant from the seller, tenant just moved in and making a list of complaints - light bulbs out, food disposal not working, and the latest is plumbing in the bathtub.

He then went ahead and got a plumber to fix the issue and proceed to send us a bill of $350. We did not tell him to go get a plumber, we asked him to start with using liquid plumber and let us know.

I read through the lease it didn’t say anywhere we need to pay for these costs.

But just wanted to get everyone’s advise if you have dealt with something similar, and will you reimburse the tenant if you are in my situation?

Thank you!!

[Lynnette E.]

If a tenant called me with a drain issue, I would not ask the tenant to fix the problem by pouring liquid plumber down the drain.  I'd call a handyman to fix it.  Your tenant does not want to be the repairman, and may not be comfortable doing that type of thing.  That is why some people rent rather than buy a house.  That is why he called a plumber.  

Maybe take care of the problem when he calls next time, then he won't choose the repairman.