All Forum Posts by: Mariah Porter

Thanks everyone for your guidance! I'm not necessarily opposed to allowing a renter with a dog in my house. I haven't met them yet so not sure if they're a good fit or not. If they fit my qualifications though, I would definitely want to charge an additional deposit and possibly additional rent to cover any damages from the pet. Is that something you can do if it is an ESA animal?

I own a house in Idaho and rent my spare rooms. A potential tenant has an emotional support dog. Am I required to allow an emotional support dog if I am living in the house? Can I charge a pet deposit or pet rent? I'm trying to look for the actual laws in Idaho but can't seem to find a reputable source.

Many thanks to anyone who can share their expertise with me!

Thanks for the recommendation I will have to look into that book 

 Idaho

I had a tenant cause a serious plumbing blockage by flushing tampons down the toilet. This resulted in a $1500 plumbing bill and damages to a downstairs bedroom. She moved out over the holidays before I had figured out the cause of the plumbing blockage and back up. I now know that she is responsible.

I will be sending her the disposition of deposit but am not sure about the actual cost of repairing damages to the bedroom. It may take a while to get the repairs completed because most jobs around here are being scheduled several weeks out.

Do I have to wait until the work is completed to include actual cost in the disposition of deposit or can I put estimates instead? I am concerned if I have to wait until the works gets done I won't be able to send the disposition of deposit in the allotted time. 

I have done some research into the laws in my state and haven't been able to find anything that definitively answers my question.

I really appreciate answers from those with any knowledge on this circumstance. All of you in the bigger pockets community have helped me so much as I have navigated some difficult things that I never anticipated experiencing when I started out on this journey less than a year ago.

Thanks in advance!
 

 Thanks for the feedback! That's what I was thinking I would do. It just didn't feel as cut and dry because we were all sharing the plumbing system instead of her just renting the whole property.

Thanks! I'm brand new at this and was just unsure about it because we're all sharing the plumbing system in the house, so it didn't feel as cut and dry as if I was just renting the whole property to her.

I am currently house hacking my first property. I rent out two bedrooms to roommates and live in one of the other bedrooms. I just had a sewage line blockage that caused a backup into on of my basement bedrooms. I had to rip out the carpet and padding and might have to replace all the baseboards and possibly some drywall. The plumbers had to excavate down to the sewer line and get the blockage out. It was really big and they couldn't do it with a snake.

The cost for the plumbers is $1500 and they actually gave me a discount because they just barely replaced my sewer line for me a month ago. The cause of the blockage was tampons flushed down the toilet catching on the pipe and then other things catching on the tampons etc. I personally have not flushed any tampons down the toilet. I asked my roommates if they did and one of them said that she hasn't and the other one said, "I did flush a couple." This roommate ended up moving out a couple of weeks ago. She broke her contract so she still had to pay me rent for Jan, which she has paid. I still have her security deposit and feel justified keeping it and putting it towards the plumbing expense but it's only $600.

Because we're all living there, I can't really prove that it was entirely her doing and the other one isn't lying or mistaken about not flushing any tampons. So I'm not really sure what to do about the bill. In my lease it states:

"Tenant shall be responsible for damages caused by her negligence... of both the leased room and common areas subject to tenants use. Tenant shall report all building damage, water leaks, or other maintenance issues immediately to Landlord or will be held liable for the costs of repairing any unreported damage. If the need to repair is caused by Tenant...  Landlord may make the necessary repairs and the cost of which will be treated as additional rent to be paid by the Tenant upon notification of amount. Failure to pay costs of repairs will be treated as additional rent payable by Tenant and due immediately."

Can I bill her for the cost of the repair? 

Have any of you faced any issues like this in a house hack?

How would you deal with it?

Thanks!

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies and advice. Several new developments have arisen as I've dug into this issue including a major sewage line blockage due to people flushing things down the toilet that shouldn't have been flushed. This was the cause of water coming up through the hidden drain. It is still attached and I'm planning on getting it capped off.

I've been having some mysterious water issues and my carpet got flooded in the dead of winter the other day. It seemed very strange because I did a test with a pressure gauge and there was no plumbing leak, and the ground is very, very frozen outside so it shouldn't be seepage from outside. I pulled up my carpet and pad and found a weird cement patch that had been poured over a low area in the slab. The patch was all broken up because the water had weakened it. I pulled up a big chunk and found this corroded drain. I've attached a picture. Seems a little shady to me that it was badly covered up. Is this something that the sellers should have disclosed? I know that they bought the house as a flip and finished the basement. I've had several other major problems and I'm feeling like the sellers should have known about some of them. I've been renting out my extra rooms and have had tenants displaced a few times because of random things like this. I've lost a lot of money in vacancy and repairs.

What would you do if this had happened to you?