Help with tenant requiring frequent maintenance and replacement of appliances

[Billy Kane]

Hello,

I am a landlord in California and I rented my SFH to a large family (8 people) about 2 years ago. In the past two years, I've had to address leaks in the bathroom, replace a refrigerator, replace a washer, replace a dryer, and now a garbage disposal. The refrigerator, washer, and, dryer is older so I can understand, but the garbage disposal was new when they moved in. During the replacement of the garbage disposal I saw a large rib bone in the disposal.

I don't know if these repairs are considered normal wear and tear, but it seem frequent. As a California landlord, what can I do? Can I have the tenant pay for these repairs due negligence or should I just raise the rent on them to cover these costs?

Thank you BP community for the advice

[Jonah Hartsburg]

Considering it's been rented for two years, these repairs seem fairly reasonable, especially if the appliances were older as mentioned. Regarding the garbage disposal, those are always a pain, and it seems common for people not to know what you should and shouldn't put in them. I've dealt with glass, bones, shrimp tails, a child's toy, utensils, etc. If I can prove that it was due to a lodged item, as is in this case, I'll typically charge the expense back to the tenant and take the opportunity to remind them how to properly use a garbage disposal. If I have a property in a C-class area, I'll even remove disposals to avoid consistent repair issues.