Landlord rights: Tenant's rights to self repair door jambs from wheel chair damage

[Sara Kumar]

I have multiple rental properties but am asking with this situation as it is my first time encountering this.

The facts are: I have a management company who manages a single family home for me. The tenant while living in the home had one family member who became wheelchair bound during their occupancy. They did not request anything needed, and the home was not advertised as ADA accessible upon their move in. It had standard doorway widths. 

They resided in the home 2018 to present, and are moving shortly. During a final walk through, management sent photos of doorway damage that was extensive on 3 doorways, and will require a full door and door jamb replacement. As a landlord, I verified the work needed by pictures being sent, and arranged for a contractor to go in person who is licensed and insured to give an estimate for the work stating to management company this would likely have to come out of a security deposit.

The management company was initially asked prior to me arranging this appointment with contractor, to have someone professional quote the damage, and they disregarded my wishes and without my knowledge, or notifying me, granted consent to the tenant to fix the door " in any way they see fit, and to attempt to fix it themselves to the degree of their liking." 

When I inquired about what the contractor said that they should have scheduled, they then notified me (which was almost 2 weeks later) that they gave this consent to the tenant. They told me that they did this because they felt it was " fair " based on the fact that the tenant moved into the house, then had a wheelchair, and did not request from me to change anything within the home such as wider doorways for wheelchair, and under a specific law I would have been required to make such changes and " didn't have to." So based on this, the tenant is allowed to take a shot at fixing the door jambs any way they feel is acceptable, and if it is not to my liking upon their exit, I can then hire someone to remedy the situation and fix it to my liking.

what is this nonsense? She is saying this is legal based on the fact that under the "Equal Housing Act" I would have been required to make any requested changes to the home and so in that regard, this is "fair." Her attempts to become a lawyer in moments like this are hair raising stupid. While I do not know the exact laws around what she is quacking about, I do know that the way she is portraying her opinion is clearly... not the law. 

I responded with a legal notice saying that I cannot be left vulnerable for legal reasons to someone doing structural repairs on my home, because in the event they are hurt, I can be sued. I also stated that if they harmed the home in the process of these repairs, by not using a licensed and trained professional, it would cost me extra.

They responded saying they don't feel I can unilaterally request that a tenant not make these repairs, and they would not notify the tenant to cease work.

As it stands, I am allowed to have a contractor who is competent look at the job, quote it, but I am not allowed to do the work with that person, until the tenant has had a shot at it.

I cannot believe how basically unprofessional, and dangerous this situation is for all parties involved and want confirmation as the woman who works at this management company has no legal degree, and is constantly attempting to wave the legal flag like an expert. I have at this stage handed this over to an actual attorney, but wanted to check here on anyone else's experience with this. I am located in the state of Florida.

Many thanks!

[Sara Kumar]

damage2

This is one doorway. A few were in this condition. I sent a licensed person yesterday who does repairs on doors and asked if we could somehow cut out the wood that is bad and replace. He told me when the damage is like this it has to be replaced meaning door jamb, and door which is sold together and you can't cut out just a section of that wood and to bond it back to the way it was originally is not possible when it is that dinged , it is just white now, with dings and some corners fixed here and there. He then said the tenant did not say what they did put on it other than they hired someone to fix it. He said that it was clearly bonded or puttied, and just painted white and looked ok but had some still visible wear and tear. 

I am unfamiliar with how long bond lasts, how sturdy it is over time, and will I be replacing this door jamb in 6 months even with a patch job done like this because it will look the same way and all wear down? 

Would love to know.. 

When the tenant moved in 2018 the entire home was new, molding, carpet, everything. Turnkey. No damage except for 1 spot on the kitchen counter. I asked him for a quote to replace the door jamb  today and am putting a lien on the deposit. He said he noticed a few other things and this management company person has a history of not disclosing damage from tenant that exceeds normal wear and tear until I get the key back and the deposit was returned. I don't want that happening here until I can view the house myself after tenant vacates and I have the person I use to fix things present. I'm relieved I have a lawyer, he suggested the lien in this situation because they were being uncooperative down to providing us with a recent fully executed copy of the lease with updated contact info for the tenant. 

I read the HUD link in full and am fully understanding now my rights, and as I understand it if a tenant requests a door be widened, they must pay for that, a contract is in place, and it is returned back with a deposit made that is large enough to cover the full construction costs. In either circumstance, the door must look as it did when they moved in. Reasonable accommodations I guess is the act of simply allowing a tenant to pay for a door widening among other things.

There were a few other things I believe which are destroyed including carpet which was newly installed a week before she moved in, but b/c it is 7 years, I can't do anything about it from what I read on this forum and other people asking these questions. 

I am debating whether I want to restore the door to what it was, (I wanted to list this home for sale and I will surely get dinged on this on the inspection in terms of wear even if it is bonded and white). I have kept the rent relatively low for this tenant for 7 years due to the ongoing pity story and pressure from the management. I received all the information on what was going on with the tenants constantly, someone died, someone else now died, now you increased the rent and their extended family has to move in to help pay it. I actually to date did not charge what I felt the market rent was, because I genuinely felt uncomfortable. It actually got to a point where recently I told them I AM increasing the rent, this is the market price, and I gave them 2 months notice to sign a new lease at that or move and they are moving. So this has been going on for some time. . 

 In my humble opinion, the management person is pro tenant. I was also told this by someone else who experienced something similar and has property listed with them.  After this experience, I do not feel they simply are "managing both parties fairly." Lesson learned and would definitely like to know if I can report this company for this type of practice, and to whom?? 

I have not had any bad experiences with other management companies . The costs over covering fixes their tenants were responsible for over the years has accumulated to a large number. Those small costs add up and they do not follow though with holding security, or communicating with tenant as I would like but play God rather in deciding how to apply the law. That is up to a LL IMO as you bear the legal risk there anyway.

This was my last listing with them. Thanks for the advice checking in because it is greatly helpful this week.