Establishing a "damage baseline" for slobby tenant accountability

[Aaron S.]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping I can get your advice about something.

A couple years back, I purchased a property as-is. Conscious decision, timing was important, price reflected generous buffer for known needed work.

What I didn't realize is, the tenants are kind of irresponsible slobs, and rather than reporting things to me or applying a _proper_ fix, they'll do a hack fix (e.g. they tied a piece of cloth around a pinhole leak in a pipe, which resulted in expensive water damage years down the line).

I've run into a such few cases, where repairs were needed due to long-term tenant negligence (when they rented from the previous owner, so basically before our lease), and I'd like to protect myself and hold them accountable for any future such things that come up. Basically, I want them to be responsible for any new long-term damages, even if the root cause of the damage happened before we entered into a lease, assuming it's caused by them.

Another example: There's a high deck where rain water was directed and drained off harmlessly through a hole in the corner, by design. Well, they thought that was a leak or something, so they caulked up the drainage, resulting in water building up and damaging the rooms below!!! Again, this was done before we entered into a lease (though the damage became visible after).

My lease with them already specifies that they're responsible for properly repairing "non-structural things", and that I'm responsible for "structural things" with the building. However, I wonder if I can't hold them accountable for botched repairs they did years ago, that they would be accountable for, had we been on a lease during that time. So, I'd like to at least reset the baseline and make it absolutely clear.

One thing worth adding: They're running a business in there, any I wouldn't necessarily put it past them to try to blame me for damages they've started to cause over the long term (before my lease took hold) hurting their business.

What are some standard ways to deal with this?

I was thinking something like:

1) Bring in an inspector (as if selling the place, except maybe even more thorough, since there's no incentive for the transaction to succeed), and have them draft up a well-documented report.

2) Use said report as a baseline, and make it clear that any slippage caused by their neglect, even if it's major repairs caused by waiting too long to bring something to my attention or get it handled, is their responsibility.

3) Get additional insurance (umbrella policy), to better guard against the liability thing I mentioned above (not sure if this is worth it though, if I already have liability insurance for the property).

Any advice, or similar experiences/stories, are most welcome! What would you do/have you done in similar situations?

One thing I can say about these folks: they pay the rent consistently; never had a missed payment. It's just that they're kind of slobby and irresponsible hoarders, and their approach to maintenance has cost me a lot of money so far. You know the type.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk! :)