Who is responsible: Landlord or Tenant

Question

Hey all. Need some advice on this one. I currently own a rental property and live in the one unit and rent out the other. My rental does not have central air and I require the tenants to provide their own window units if they want it (This is noted upfront before they sign the lease.) My previous tenants had three window units, two in the bedrooms and one in the dining room and never had any issues with it staying cool upstairs and never had electrical issues with running 3 units at the same time. I myself had been up there plenty of times and it was a low 70 temp at all times. My current tenants only have two window units and complain about it being hot all the time upstairs, to which I suggested maybe a third unit would help, being that it had worked for the other tenants. I even offered the older unit that’s in the attic that I don’t use so they wouldn’t have to buy one. They said they would prefer to get a portable unit and Install it in the living room where it tends to be the hottest. When they bought the unit and plugged it in it tripped the breaker, or so I thought, because this outlet is connected to the ceiling fan that is also in the living room. My tenant called and we went down to the basement together to have a look at the breaker box and unfortunately flipping the breaker did not solve the problem. I had an electrician come out this morning and found that it had completely blown the breaker and I needed to replace it which in total ended up costing me about $220. I made sure that if he replaced the breaker that this wouldn’t happen again when they plugged the air conditioner back in, because I was not going to replace it for a second time. He upgraded the breaker from a 20amp to a 30amp to be sure. My question is would this be my cost as the landlord? I understand the breaker broke, but it was in working condition until the tenants overloaded the breaker with the ac unit. Not to mention there have been more than two units running in the upstairs unit in the past with no issues. I obviously paid for it this time, but moving forward I would just like to know if this should be a damage cost to the tenant, just like if they clogged a drain and had to pay for a plumber to come out and fix it.

Thanks for your help and advice!

Sharlene Mulchandani · Answer

Like most others have already stated, I don't believe it was the tenant's responsibility to pay for the cost of the breaker. Since you recommended the third unit, they acted on that suggestion by bringing the additional unit. I don't see any negligence on your tenant's end.

Pat L. · Answer

"..Separately, I'm sure your electrician know this but you should be sure that your existing wiring is capable of supporting more amps when installing a larger breaker. It's possible that the existing wires may be too small of a gauge for the extra amps and that result could be a fire hazard...."

That would be my concern...some of these a/c units pull a lot of amps & unless the circuit is at least 12/2 ga your 30amp breaker may not suffice. I've replaced a few GFI outlets on 14/2 that cooked & sparked due to high wattage microwaves so an a/c would be a good test of your circuit. Let the a/c run for a while then feel the outlet, if it's HOT you have a problem.

Danielle Gray · Answer

Unless something is outlined in the lease, it sounds like this is yours to pay. You put in the lease that they were responsible for their own AC, but nothing about if it over ran the circuit. You even recommended to them to run 3 units since the prior tenant had done so. It's also your responsibility to provide a functioning electrical system. It sounds like your system was bound to blow eventually and needed the upgrade. Just because the prior tenants didn't have problems before doesn't mean them running 3 units didn't cause the problem. I would have my entire electrical system checked. Yes he upgraded the breaker, but there could be another problem. Take this lesson of only $220 in fees and try to head off a possible bigger issue down the line.

Carl C. · Answer

Generally your electrical system repairs should be your responsibility. It's part of the infrastructure of your building and it's your responsibility to provide one that is functioning properly. It's hard to imagine how plugging in too many appliances into one circuit could cause a breaker to become unusable unless there was a preexisting problem with that particular breaker. You should really only charge a tenant for repairs when they are clearly negligent. This doesn't fall in that category to me.

Separately, I'm sure your electrician know this but you should be sure that your existing wiring is capable of supporting more amps when installing a larger breaker. It's possible that the existing wires may be too small of a gauge for the extra amps and that result could be a fire hazard.

Stephen Kehoe · Answer

Are you expecting this to happen again with the upgraded service?

If the tenant is to be responsible it needs to be negligent behavior and ideally outlined in the lease. If you are worried about this happening again I would put something in the lease about how many AC units is reasonable similar to the clogged drain issue you mentioned.

In general without prior notice I don't think plugging in 3 AC units is unreasonable and so shouldn't be the tenants expense.

Emily Kuharcik · Answer

The air conditioner has a gfi on the plug, which is what he meant by the unit gfi should trip. There is also a ceiling fan that is wired into this breaker which definitely overloaded the breaker because both were running at the same time.

Kenneth Garrett · Answer

@Emily Kuharcik

Unfortunately this cost will be on you.  Most houses run 15 amp breakers with 14 gauge wire for the living room.  Kitchens and bathrooms run 20 amp breakers with 12 gauge wire depending on the age of the property.  Not sure what your electrician meant about the GFI tripping if it gets overloaded.  It is a code violation and a fire hazard to install a 30 amp breaker unless the wire is a minimum of 10 gauge.  Did he pull new wires?  Is he using a GFI breaker to protect the wires from overheating.  The electrician could have measured the amount of draw on the breaker with the added portable unit.  Be careful that this was done correctly.

Jennifer T. · Answer

I agree with the others.  The tenant didn't do anything negligent.  In fact, you were the one who suggested they put a third a/c unit in the downstairs.  You offered them a window unit, they said they preferred a portable, and you didn't warn them not to.  Probably because you assumed it wouldn't be an issue either.

Sounds like this was an improvement to the electrical system that one could argue was needed anyway, considering the only thing that pushed it "over the edge" was a portable a/c vs. a window a/c.  I think you should pay for it and look on the bright side.  Temperature is understandably a big issue for a tenant and you helped them solve that for only $220.  This could literally be the difference between them leaving as soon as the lease was over* or staying for many more years.

*Real life story!  When I was a tenant, I was an ideal one.  Exactly the kind of person none of us would want to lose as a tenant.  My second summer at an apartment I was renting, there was a major Freon leak in my a/c system.  I was calling 2-4x/month from May-Sept. that my a/c had broken again.  I begged them.  And I begged them.  To please just FIX the a/c unit, so the problem stopped happening.  Their response was always to totally ignore me with, "No, no.  It's fine.  It just needed more Freon."

By April of the next year, I gave them my 30 day notice I was leaving.  The only reason I left is there was no way I was going to spend one more hot as hell summer in that apartment with it's dying a/c unit.

Emily Kuharcik · Answer

According to the electrician, it shouldn’t happen again. He purposefully upgraded the breaker to 30amp to prevent any issues with overloading it. He also said it should trip the GFI on the air conditioning unit if there’s an issue with it again.

Who is responsible: Landlord or Tenant

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