The tenant didn't tell me about leaks in the kitchen and bath and now there's damage. What would you do?
The kitchen sink leak has been going on for months looks like. Turns out that one of the fittings on the hot water was constantly leaking. The drain was dripping also. The drywall at the back of the sink is damaged and will be replaced. The sink cabinet and drawer cabinet next to it are both wet. It destroyed the bottom of the sink cabinet. She took out the board and just let it keep leaking. The subfloor doesn't look damaged looking up from the basement, but the luan is soaked and has buckled under both cabinets plus a little more in front causing the peal-and-stick tile to come up a little. The cabinets will fall apart if I take them out. I'm thinking to fix the leak, remove the doors so the floor will dry, and not replace the cabinets and luan. Any liability here if I don't replace luan that's wet and just allow it to dry?
In the half master bath, they snaked the drain and may have pierced a pipe. Water just pours down into the basement when draining. The leak is behind the wall and there is signs of the leak on the subfloor when looking up.
My lease states that the tenant is responsible for damage when they don't notify me of needed repairs in a timely manner. If I don't replace the cabinets and floor that she damaged, I can't charge. Also, what's my liability if I just removed the kitchen sink doors and allow it to dry naturally and the tenant claims mold issues?
I don't want to go overboard with repairs, but I want to make sure that I do the right thing and protect my investment. What do you think the proper thing is to do?
Thank you.
