Strange Tenant request to repair dishwasher

[Ali BenAyed]

Hello, 

This tenant request to repair dishwasher is strange to me, and I need more opinions about this. Backstory: I lived in this house more than 2 years and I used to use the dishwasher almost everyday with no problem. 
the tenant text “Hi Ali! We have a bit of plumping issue or something going wrong. I’m not entirely sure. We never use the dishwasher. We always handwash our dishes and use the drying rack because the dishwasher never thoroughly washed the dishes when I originally moved in. Plus i prefer hand washing. When we got home this evening from work and daily activities we smelled this awful odor coming from the kitchen. We inspected and come to find out it was water piling up in the dishwasher. Angelica [the girlfriend] said that perhaps it could be the garbage disposable pipe? This water looked like it has been piling up for awhile. Could you have a plumper come out and look at it sometime over the weekend? Or early next week?”

[Nik Corbaxhi]

@Ali BenAyed, if I understand correctly, they are using the dishwasher rack for drying purpose but not the dishwasher itself. Are they actually using the dry option of the dishwasher or are they letting the dishes just rest there and dry on their own? Could it be that every time they wash the dishes and just hang them in the rack, all of the water that goes off of them ends up in the bottom of the dishwasher? This might seem significant but overtime, every drop adds up to quite a bit of water, hence giving them the smell. Here is what I would do:

1. Go give the dishwasher a full cycle run. If it works and drains properly, then you know there is no problems with drain pipes and garbage pipes...etc. Inform your tenants that they using just the rack to dry the dishes, 

2. If step 1 gives you a problem and you see that the dishwasher is not working, it could be that the dishwasher needs to be changed. Unless you can make a connection that there was intend from your tenants to break the dishwasher, there is nothing strange about the request. Just because you used the dishwasher on a regular basis before with no issues, does not mean that it is their fault that it broke once they took over. 

Good Luck.