Charging tenants deductible for repairs.

[Tari Tung]

Hello BP! I heard from someone that as a landlord, I can charge deductible for repairs to my tenant. I know I would have to put this in the lease agreement to begin with. Let's say for an example that I put this in lease: "Tenant is responsible for $250 deductible for any repairs. This excludes heating, AC, dishwasher, and oven stove units that breaks because of normal use, and not because of negligence of tenant. Any repairs that occur due to negligence of tenant, tenant is responsible for those repairs. " Is this legal in California. Thanks for the response.

[Michael B.]

Can't speak to the legality, but this sounds like a really bad idea.

You want the tenant to let you know when a repair is needed. Delaying maintenance and repairs makes for much more expensive repairs later. For example, if a tenant doesn't report that the fridge is leaking and now you get to put in a new floor it's going to cost much more than fixing a water line.

Houses need maintenance and they get expensive when it's not done. Don't put a tenant in a position where he doesn't want to report problems.