Tenant caused clog causing drainage leak

[Peter Morgan]

Hello,

My tenant recently vacated the apartment and there were no drainline issues before he moved in and its a fairly new plumbing line a little over two years. He most likely abused the plumbing system letting hard waste going through the line and most probably used harsh chemicals such as drainex causing these issues. Can I withhold his deposit for wrecking my plumbing system? I will appreciate your inputs.

Thanks

[Jim K.]

@Peter Morgan

If it's a two-year-old plumbing line, it's made of solvent-welded thick inert plastic PVC or ABS plastic. You could dump a 10% bleach and 5% lye solution down such a line (the two active ingredients of Drainex) all day long and it would never spring a leak or "make holes in the drain line." Perhaps it's a polypropylene drain kit that's leaking, not any sort of actual new plumbing line. In any case, there's more to this story than you know or you're saying.

I suspect this issue is just a matter of a lack of asset knowledge coupled with a strong desire to push operating costs off your balance sheet and on to your tenants. You don't know what went wrong and you very much want someone else to pay for it.