Difficult Tenants and a Broken Fridge 3 Month ordeal - HEL

[Mitch Polatin]

Please Help. Going insane.

We leased out our Home in Boca Florida, for $8k a month plus a month, on a two-year lease. The first week or two, the refrigerator started leaking. This is a $12,000 built in 48 inch refrigerator. But older. I sent people to fix it, and the first people that came to fix it said they would never go back to my house again the way the tenants treated them, very rudely and mean and speaking down to them. I found someone else to come fix it, he came with his people and seemingly fixed it. But he did say to me, the woman in the house who is very rude to us, will not be happy until she gets a new refrigerator, she doesn’t want to fix the refrigerator. But I did not want to spend $10,000 on a new refrigerator, and they are not easy to come by these days.

After no complaints for a week, I paid half the money to fix it $2000, there was some more leaking so the guy came in and patched it up, and then another week later I paid an additional $2000, for $4000 total fix. The guy gave me a receipt and all that and is a pretty well respected individual, but he told me it would be permanently fixed.

Well a couple weeks later, things started happening small things, leaks and it stopped working, and I brought an extra refrigerator for the tenants to use during the fix. Let’s just say the guy keeps coming in and fixing it for free, but small things keep happening to the refrigerator, which has the guy suspicious the tenants or maybe doing something.

It is now been three months, I paid $4000, and this guy and his team have been back to my house at least nine times to fix the refrigerator. Each time they send me a video saying it’s working perfectly, and then a couple days or a week later I got a video from the tenant saying it is not working. I seriously don’t even know who to believe anymore.

Add this to the fact that three people from the appliance place will not go back to the house anymore because the way they’ve been treated by the tenants, which seems to be somewhat racially motivated with them yelling and talking down to the employees.

I understand the tenants are frustrated and the refrigerator is not working consistently, but now I’ve sunk 4000 into a fix, and they have their lawyer calling me demanding I buy a new one for $10,000.

The guy who fixes the refrigerator assures me it’s one minor thing he can go in to patch up and then it will be fine, no extra cost to me, but the tenants will not allow him back in to the house to fix it and are demanding a new refrigerator.

I totally get their frustration but I’m looking for options where I don’t have to buy something for $10,000, because the guy I paid $4000 to stands by his work and says he gets it working anytime there’s an issue, but now they will not let him in the house.

Help! I’m losing my mind.