All Forum Posts by: Joo Chung

Thanks for all of the replies. The tenant has finally agreed to pay for the damages. What an incredible relief. Although the situation's not over yet, I've learned a lot from it. It's claimed that "pimpin' ain't easy", landlording ain't easy either. 

Everyone, thank you for your input. I will most certainly be consulting a lawyer; later this week, in fact. But you all have helped me gain some perspective, thank you.

Most of you seem to think that, even if I were to get a judgment against the tenant for reimbursement of damages (beyond the amount of the security deposit), the chance of me actually getting that above-and-beyond amount are slim. Some mentioned the possibility of wage garnishment, but then someone mentioned a case when a tenant avoided even that by quitting their job and skipping town. I'm not going to completely give up on the chance of getting reimbursed fully, but I guess I should prepare myself for the likely possibly that I will just have to write off the un-reimbursed part as a loss.

There's a small wrinkle which I didn't mention initially. The tenant told me that, after breaking the pipe (by accidentally dropping the toilet cover on it, causing the cover to break in half ...), the tenant didn't know how to shut off the water. About twenty minutes went by before the tenant was able to find a neighbor (the unit is a condo) who found the shut off and turned it off. Now (here's the wrinkle), the valve would not shut off all the way; a small trickle remained. 

The tenant's contention is that the (floor) damage would not have occurred had the water valve been able to be shut off completely. While this may be true if the valve had been shut off immediately, my contention is that, in the twenty minutes time it took for the tenant to get the neighbor, during which the water was coming out unabated, the damage to the floor had already been done. I asked for the plumber / building engineer's assessment and his agrees with mine (I have this in writing). 

But to be completely honest, there is a part of me that can see the situation from the tenant's view, and can see how things could be put together into an argument supporting the tenant's position that they are not responsible for the floor damage. But then, this damage never would have happened had the tenant not dropped the toilet cover and broke the pipe in the first place. 

I had discussed the situation with others outside of this forum, and they had said that I was being too understanding / soft; I had decided on a tougher approach, which is why I put things the way I did in my original post here. But the little wrinkle still bothers me, because there are times when I can see it from the tenant's POV. 

What do you all think? Am I being too soft? Does the tenant have a valid case? 

Hi, this is my first post on BP. I'm glad to have found such a fantastic community of people! I hope I can not only learn a lot here, but also give back at least a little bit from the experiences that I've had over the years. Anyway, without further ado ...

I have a problem. Last November, very late at night, a tenant of mine broke the toilet inlet pipe, causing a flood that led to about 500 square feet of laminate flooring getting wet. All of the flooring needs to be replaced, because, as you may know, laminate flooring, once it gets wet, expands, leading to raised areas where the pieces join. Plus, there was an emergency call to the plumber to fix the pipe to the toilet (needed because the toilet wouldn't work otherwise).

I paid for the emergency plumbing repair, and have gotten estimates to replace the flooring, and have told the tenant to pay, since they caused the damage. The tenant absolutely refuses to pay, claiming that the pipe broke on its own, or some nonsense like that (although the tenant did admit to causing the pipe to break in other communications). 

Also, I've tried to schedule a time to have the floors done, but the tenant doesn't want me to have the work done, because the tenant doesn't want to pay for it. I know that I have the right, as landlord, to have the flooring work done as long as I give 24 hours notice. So, no problems there. 

I've offered to let the tenant pay in installments, I've offered discounts on the repair fees, and I've given months to come up with the money. Tenant simply will not pay. 

I was just going to deduct the cost of repairs from the security deposit, but based on estimates for flooring work, the tenant is going to end up owing me probably another thousand or more beyond what the deposit covers. 

In the lease, it says that the tenant is responsible for paying for damages caused by the tenant. There is no clause that says that damage payment will be deducted from rent payment (this is something I will be sure to include in the next tenant's lease). So, how do I get my repair costs covered? Do I have grounds for evicting the tenant? 

The property is located in the state of Virginia. 

Many thanks for any advice!

Oh, and another thing, the tenant had one of their friends call me and yell and accuse me of trying to take advantage of the tenant. Harassment ... ?