Tenants want LL to pay for their broken TV

[E.S. Burrell]

Hi All

Tenants lost power throughout the house. Electrician was called to investigate the problem. He said there was a power surge and got the lights working. The furnace quit working. My furnace guy said that the furnace needed a transformer. Furnace is now working. Tenant plugged in TV and TV is not working but everything else that is plugged in outlet works. Am I responsible for replacing the TV? Tenant does not have renters insurance. Thank you. I’m taking notes from your responses.

[E.S. Burrell]

You all have been soooooooo helpful........

I have decided NOT to replace the TV for these reasons:

  1. It's stated three times in my lease to get renters insurance and I am not responsible for personal property.

  2. Electrician fee: $200; HVAC fee: $125 = $325 ( who knows how much the TV will cost ) 

However, I have decided to purchase  two surge trips for my tenant and explain the importance of using them and the importance of having renter's insurance. I empathize with them but I have to draw the line somewhere...nipping it in the bud. 

I'm working on my 7th rental and have already added mandatory renter's insurance AND power surge strips to the lease. Experience is the best teacher. 

[Justin Bowman]

@E.S. Burrell maybe require renters insurance in the future?

[Ned J.]

This would be an absolute hard NO........not a chance in hell. I'm frankly shocked at the people that want to replace the TV to make their tenant "happy". I get the "make the tenant happy and they stay and I make more $$", but for god's sake, where does that end? If you want to open that can of worms to appease every tenant want and wish, more power to you and good luck with that....

Yes "its only $300"..... but you just gave the green light for the next tenant demand.....and the next....

Unless there is an issue that I caused or could have predicted was going to happen and I failed to act, then don't look at me pay for the stuff than happens in a tenants life.

They have surge protectors and rental insurance for a reason.......

Only thing I may do is look into a whole house surge protector....and make sure my lease coves these issues...... other than that, not gonna happen.....

[Account Closed]

Whatever you do triple check there is not a "loose neutral" condition. There can be a loose neutral on your side or the power companies. I had a loose neutral that blew up 2 appliances. It's funny because I was thinking about this today again (it happened a year ago). I was thinking of adding something to lease for it. The power company can come out and add a dummy load (some call it the beast) to your meter and see if there are any issues. They had to replace all lines coming from the pole to house before it was fixed. This is after they told me there was no issue on their side and I proceeded to replace every damn light and outlet and switch in the entire unit. 

[Caroline Gerardo]

Several people suggested renters insurance. My guess is that insurance would not cover the TV. no way to know if the surged caused the fail, what caused the surge and if has something to do with subject wiring... 

[Daniel Smyth]

Want in one hand. And poop in the other all day if you want. See which hand gets full first!

A claim against the Renter's Insurance policy is in order. Oh, they didn't need a renter's insurance policy. Thats OK, because they can try a claim with the electric company.

Unless such coverages are stipulated in the LEASE, there is no legal basis for the LL to pay a dime for damages.

I knew about and secured renter's insurance back before seatbelts and liability insurance was required for drivers.

The tenant should be pointed to the closest State Farm agent, and they should say thankyou!

Nothing else to say about it.

[Michael Robbins]

@E.S. Burrell Does your lease specify that the tenant is required to maintain renters insurance?  If it does, and the tenant let the insurance lapse (or never had it) then I would point to that.  If it were me I would call renters insurance and ask them if a situation like the one you encountered would cover a broken TV.  Then I would call the tenant and let them know that is exactly why tenant insurance is required.

[Kurt Kleespies]

@E.S. Burrell

This should not be your fire to put out. Power surges are commonplace and people know that. If it were your personal home and an expensive item was destroyed, you would look to your insurance policy.... because you are responsible enough to have one. So should your renter. If they failed to take out a renters insurance policy, that is a lesson learned. Maybe a tough lesson, but a lesson regardless. You literally had no hand in the damage of their TV.

In the future, it may be worth adding to your lease agreement and after reading your post I know that I will be adding it to mine!

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @E.S. Burrell:

Hi All

Tenants lost power throughout the house. Electrician was called to investigate the problem. He said there was a power surge and got the lights working. The furnace quit working. My furnace guy said that the furnace needed a transformer. Furnace is now working. Tenant plugged in TV and TV is not working but everything else that is plugged in outlet works. Am I responsible for replacing the TV? Tenant does not have renters insurance. Thank you. I’m taking notes from your responses.

 How did you do your lease? It's always advisable to have a clause in there stating something to the effect of "landlord ain't responsible if your crap breaks" With that said it would be very unlikely that I would consider buying the tenant a new TV. 

[Account Closed]

@Nate Fleming great to see another EC on this forum. 2020 NEC 230.67

Panel replacement/upgrade requires whole house surge protection. Looks EUSERC hashing out joule requirements.

According to California State License Board the most misused, poorly executed trade is electrical. Here in CA anyone working on 100va or above must be a certified j-man or licensed contractor.

Homeowners, handymen & "investors" provide lots of job security ;)

Be safe out there

[John Abernathy]

@Kyle J.

Thanks food info! Thanks for your reply and comment

[Sue K.]

Originally posted by @E.S. Burrell:

You all have been soooooooo helpful........

I have decided NOT to replace the TV for these reasons:

  1. It's stated three times in my lease to get renters insurance and I am not responsible for personal property.

  2. Electrician fee: $200; HVAC fee: $125 = $325 ( who knows how much the TV will cost ) 

However, I have decided to purchase  two surge trips for my tenant and explain the importance of using them and the importance of having renter's insurance. I empathize with them but I have to draw the line somewhere...nipping it in the bud. 

I'm working on my 7th rental and have already added mandatory renter's insurance AND power surge strips to the lease. Experience is the best teacher. 

 I'm just so impressed by you.  You are so successful, yet so humble about asking questions - which is probably why you're so successful.  

[E.S. Burrell]

@Sue K. Thank you!!! 😊😊