Tenant Damaged Garage Door

[Brandon Johnson]

Looking for some advice from the forums.  My tenant texted my property manager and said that the garage door at my property had been damaged.  The tenant claims that a metal piece was hanging down from the door and had gotten snagged on the roof of her Jeep.  All evidence points to (including the advice from the garage door repair service) that she ran into the footer board.  This would indicate that she may not have pushed the door all of the way up.  

What is the recommended course of action if the tenant will not pay out of pocket for the repair?  Obviously she could file an insurance claim with her car insurance.

[Marc Winter]

The repairs should be billed to the tenant as 'added rent' Don't wait until the end to take it out of security deposit--there may not be enough to cover.  Get your professional garage door repair person to put in their bill their professional opinion of what happened and who caused it.  Have photos, and keep them in the tenant file.

But @Bjorn Ahlblad is correct--why are you even getting involved?  This is exactly what should be handled by the PM.