Repair problem: who should pay for repair.

[Eric Li]

I managed a rental by myself for a few years. I have this tenant moved in since Jun this year. In end of Oct, I got a message that the garbage disposal stopped working and there was leak under the sink. I went there to inspect myself. I found the leak was at the bottom of the garbage disposal and the garbage disposal was stucked. I reached in the garbage disposal, reverse the rotation and pull a knife from inside. The knife was about 6 in long (including handle) and the blade was about 3 in long. One of the three tenants was with me at that time. I told her that it was damaged by the knife and I needed to charged them for repair. I could order a repair and charge them or they could order a repair themselves. They chose to find their own plumber.

In two days, they message me back saying that the plumber said the garbage disposal was old and the damage was wear and tear. The plumber was saying that even a garbage disposal was stuck, it won't damage the unit. Now they wanted me to pay for the damage. I disagree and refused. They still had the garbage disposal fixed and sent me the bill. Following the bill, I called the plumber. The plumber told me that he did not know about the knife and that's why he made that comment. The plumber agreed with me that the knife could cause the damage.

I circled this back to the tenants in email (cc the plumber who was chosen by the tenant). The tenant still insisted that it was a wear and tear as their claim that's what tenant union told them (something stuck in the garbage disposal is wear and tear). They refused to talk to me but only asking for physical address to send legal paper. I refused to give them address but willing to talk to them. They refused to talk to me for resolution.

Not sure what I should do at this point.

[Erik W.]

Tenants should never be allowed to do repairs.  You expose yourself to liability and contractor liens, which is sort of the situation you've got going on now with them thinking you owe them.

Contractors may give opinions, but most "normal wear and tear" is at least partially tenant's fault.  In this case, I'd say 100% tenant's fault.  I have lived in homes with garbage disposals for almost 35 years and have NEVER dropped a piece of cutlery in it.

Get rid of garbage disposals as units turn over.  They bring you zero extra rent and are a constant source of hassles.

They have begun passive aggressively ignoring you.  That's a bad sign.  As for me, I would invoke the "Happy Clause".  I doubt anything you can do at this point will make the tenants happy.  Even if you pay 100% of the bill, any future rent raise will be "unfair....do you remember 10 months ago when our disposal went out?"

Happy Clause goes like this: "I can see you aren't happy with your home and the terms of our lease contract.  I will allow you to give 30 days notice and be moved out by December 18th with no break of lease penalty.  You may either stay here and be happy, or you may go be happy somewhere else."

An old adage: "The Land lord is in charge; the tenant is not."  Stay in charge, always.

P.S.  Follow up tip.  I learned early on the WORST thing I can do when diagnosing a repair is telling a tenant they will be eating the bill while I am there in person.  I simply diagnose the problem, fix it, then send them the bill.  That removes you from being there in person if they decide to do something stupid like hit you with a lamp.