All Forum Posts by: Dana R.

The outcome was pretty bad. 

In order to try to avoid the drama and cost of eviction, I tried to work out a compromise where the tenant and I split the costs where I would pay what it would have cost my plumber to fix it and the tenant would have paid the difference. 

In my mind, I thought that was a pretty fair compromise considering that the lease specifically said the tenant could not make repairs or changes first without prior written consent and that the lease stated that they needed to contact me by phone if there are any problems.

But, my tenant is psychopath. And, afterwards, the tenant emailed me to taunt me about it afterwards.

But, I should probably go through everything that happened in my original post.

What are the things that you need water sensors for and how damage would they cause if it didn't inform your phone there was a problem?

The amount of water that would rush out if there's a problem with  the washing machine is so much that wouldn't need an alarm to tell you there's a problem and you'd need to cut off that water right away to prevent damage. 

Even if you had a water sensor that alerted your phone about any problems with washing machine, it would be already too late by the time you got there to shut it off.

Personally, I think the Wally Home system is too new with not enough customer reviews to feel comfortable spending $300 on it.

That's why I'd focus more on upgrading and checking the washing machines hoses. You can get braided hoses and change those every 5 years. Or, you can get  floodchek hoses, which cost $60-$80, but that's a lot less expensive than Wally Home systems.

There are other areas that you'd need water sensors for but the water leaked is usually so small that you don't need a sensor to phone you right away that there's a problem. Instead, you could get away with a more modest water sensor that would emit a loud noise. The problem with such a system is that you'd be reliant on the tenant to inform you there's a leak but why would a tenant want to hide a leak?

Renting out a place in November and December can be tough so that might explain your problems. 

But, I also have a couple of other thoughts.

Are you also advertising and posting ads in French for a rental in Montreal, where the majority of the people speak French at home? 

If you're not also adverting to the French speakers, then you've already lost the chance to rent it to the majority of the renters before the battle even started. Can't you put the same information in French and then in English in the same ad? 

And, it seems like your Kiiji ad is already expired.

I wouldn't start off your ad by telling them to contact you via phone, email, or text. You should leave that information till the end after you've built up the desire in the reader to rent your place.

When you write the ad, you should start off with the best thing about your place- the reason why somebody should rent your place over another place. It sounds like the best thing is the location so why not start off the ad with that? When I read the ad, I wouldn't have known it was located in the heart of downtown Montreal. 

If those are real  wood floors in the picture, then I would write that you have wood floors in the ad. If I see those pictures but the owner doesn't mention there are wood floors, then I just assume that the floors are laminate or vinyl.

I wouldn't change it now, but the white appliances seem in-congruent with the downtown loft with exposed pipes vibe of your rental.

Finally, are you sure about your comps?

When you said comparable rents go for $2500-$3000, are you looking at 2 bedrooms or 1 bedroom comps? You're advertising your place as a 2 bedroom, but the open loft feel really makes your place seem more like a 1 bedroom and not a 2 bedroom.

Does anybody know how much water would have leaked if there was a problem with the garbage disposal?

Would it have been fairly limited? Or, would there been as much water as the tenant claimed?

The tenant claims he has photos but how would I know he just didn't dump some water on the floor and then take the picture? There are so many inconsistencies with his story that I don't know if I should even trust any pictures he produced.

But, that doesn't preclude the tenants from taking another 5th tenant even if the OP doesn't insist on the full rent amount.

If I was a college student, that's what I'd do- find another 5th tenant and save some money.

I sent a strong, but polite email that sorta went like this:

I started off by saying that I was sorry to hear about their Christmas dinner. But, I said any reimbursement for the repair was a separate issue from not paying all of the rent.

Therefore, any rent deducted would be considered unpaid rent. I asked him to pay the remainder of the rent in the next few days or else I would have to proceed accordingly.

I told him that any deduction like this was not only a violation of the lease but of California tenant law. I pointed out the California statute only allowed rent deductions under certain drastic conditions, but his situation did not meet them. 

Under the terms of the lease, there was no proper notice given nor enough time given for the landlord to respond. But, if he had any questions about the lease, to please let me know. 

Okay, here's his email, paraphrasing it:

"I am shocked to hear this "wait to hear back from landlord so the landlord can come first look at it" response

The sink was absolutely spilling water all over the kitchen floor. Waiting to repair it would have cost more than $500; it would have cost thousands of dollars. 

 I am very cognizant of the terms  of the contract but there are emergencies in real life that supercede it and this was one of those times. Normally, like when there had been another problem, we would've done it as you said.

I am done emailing with this. Come over and see the pictures I have of the leak and the sink."

 Thanks for the explanation. Its so confusing because different states have different rules about this and there's differences between residential and commercial leases.

To make matters even more confusing, California Department of Consumer Affairs almost sounds encouraging of receiving partial payment:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/li...

It says:

"If you can't pay the full amount on time, you may want to offer to pay part of the rent. However, the law allows your landlord to take the partial payment and still give you an eviction notice. "

 I had a direct deposit set up so I don't know if I could do that like I could with a check, whereby I could simply refuse to cash that check. 

What are the tricks and traps that tenants can use when they pay directly into your account electronically?

Currently, I use electronic direct deposit because I like not having to deal with late rents.

But, now, I'm facing a issue that makes me question if I should continue using it.

My tenant made a repair without my permission and wants to deduct $500, the cost for repairing the garbage disposal, from January's rent.

I told them not to do it because that is not allowed in the lease and that I first needed to see the invoice.

But, the tenant's response was it was too late because they had already paid for January's rent and deducted that amount from the rent.

My next action would've been to return the payment and inform the tenant that I would only accept full payment of the rent.

And, if the tenant had sent a check for not the full amount, I could refuse to cash it in.

Or, if the tenant paid in cash for not the full amount, I could refuse to accept the cash.

But, I had an electronic direct deposit set up. It goes directly into my account.

Doesn't that mean I accepted their money, even if its partial?

It seems like direct deposit might open a can of worms when the tenant pays only part of the rent.

Can't tenants use such a direct but partial payment tactics as a way to forestall and evade eviction?

 I'd like to understand more about this because the tenant is insisting on doing that. 

After the feedback of this forum, I emailed the tenant to please not deduct that amount from the rent and that I first needed to see the invoice to understand why it cost so much more than what my plumber would have charged. 

And, then I get this email response, paraphrasing:

"Sorry, but I already sent out the check yesterday and deducted that amount from that total.

I promised I'll give you the invoice, whenever you want, and I'll email to you. Just not today; I'll do it tomorrow or the day after that.

When there's issues like this and if there's no way to reach you, well, I'm sorry but that's unreasonable.

I can't live without a sink when my family's over making Christmas dinner and we're waiting to to hear back from you days later.

Try to understand where I'm coming from."