All Forum Posts by: Nadir M.

Quote from @James Hamling:

 what page of the slumlord handbook did this come out of?

After reading this, and your last post, it’s obvious that you’re uninformed and too quick to jump on the S word,

if you have ever pulled a toilet and found a giant wad of toilet paper, you would know exactly what I am talking about. Our plumber has done this at least three times this year at a cost of $250 per visit.

Sometimes Tenants will just ’wad’ up not thinking or understanding the consequences of what they are doing. That is not a wear and tear issue and that is not an issue related bad plumbing. It is a user issue.

Also, it’s pretty easy to determine if it’s a clogged pipe or if the problem is located to the toilet. If the rest of the bathroom plumbing fixtures are flowing freely then usually it’s not a clogged waste pipe.

Nah, I'd have my lawyer file a 30 day NTQ. They would state the reasons for the eviction. And they would be evicted.

Evict yesterday.

@Nadir M. Perhaps the tenant is using too much TP but reading your follow up posts suggests your home has deferred maintenance issues you’re unwilling to properly repair and only willing to implement duct tape level corrections. How can you make a statement like the plumbing is old I’m not replacing it?  Does the same apply to knob and tube wiring if it’s found in the house?  

Your explanation for why you’re a responsive landlord doesn’t cut it for me either.  What does the fact you had to re-paint and replace carpet due to a water intrusion issue have to do with the plumbing issue that’s the focus of your post? What caused the water intrusion issue during the heavy rain and why didn’t you correct the underlying issue? Won’t you have to paint and re-carpet again the next time there’s a heavy rain storm? You replaced a microwave and washer and dryer because they didn’t work? Who cares? Was it represented in the lease that those appliance were included? If so, you have a duty to provide those to the tenant. You also acknowledged you had roots in your drain. When was the last time that was cleared? 

Merely speculating but my guess is this is a lower value house that struggles to absorb cap ex. It’s unfortunately a problem with many lower priced real estate assets which are disproportionately impacted by such repairs. Appears this may be a C/D property problem disguised as a TP issue.

Any house built in 1979 would have 4 inch, or at least 3 inch, ABS waste lines. That is sufficient to handle normal usage, regardless of the brand of paper used. 

This is an obvious and simple solution..... Their kids are using way too much toilet paper, period. 

Just tell the tenant that every time this happens they will have to pay a plumber to come and fix it.

Now can we stop having this conversation? I'm trying to enjoy my morning coffee.....

@Nadir M. Good luck getting your tenant to place TP in a waste basket. That's pretty wild in my opinion.

Your best bet is when you renew the lease to add in a clause regarding plumbing repairs related to negligence of the tenant. Or general repairs of $300 or less.

You should ensure however your plumbing is actually in good shape. You may need to bite the bullet the next few months until the lease is up.

@Nadir M. My family regularly places 3X wads of toilet paper with 6-8 sheets per wad in all 3 of my toilets and don’t have it clog. (I polled everyone after reading your post).

I live in an 80+ year old house with toilets that are at least 30 years old. And 80+ year old plumbing.

There is definitely something wrong if they’ve clogged the toilet multiple times.

In the US it is customary to flush toilet paper.

It should be discouraged that they flush wipes or feminine hygiene products.

Quote from @Don Konipol:

All the replies above are based on ASSUMPTIONS about the condition of the plumbing.

Is the plumbing able to handle the “standard” amount of toilet paper being flushed and the tenants are just “loading it up” before flushing thereby causing the problem?  Or is the plumbing not able to handle a normal amount of TP and rather than the tenants being the problem the fact that the plumbing is inadequate is the problem?  So first, you need to determine whether or not the plumbing CAPACITY is up to today’s standards.  If so, you’ll need to stand firm with your tenants.  If it is not up to today’s standards, and the tenant was not informed of such before he signed the lease, then ethically, if not legally, it’s “on you”.  If this is the case Step 1 is to determine a fix and the associated cost. If the cost is reasonable, I would go ahead and make the improvement.  If the cost is out of line, I would try to reach an “accommodation” with the tenant.  Something like he agrees to flush more often and for every month with no back up I credit his rent $25.  
Good luck.  What you’re experiencing is the problems, responsibilities, and negotiations, frustrations, expenses, etc. of being a landlord.  Most of us doing it a long time have developed systems so that we handle these things efficiently.  My particular program is to only invest in class A in residential (I do b, c and even d in commercial), charge the tenant the high end of the scale, and fix immediately anything he wants that’s even semi reasonable.  That works for me but probably won’t for a majority of landlords. 

Class A, high rents and immediate repairs. That's my strategy. Works great.

Did the plumber check the water levels in the tank? If it's not adjusted correctly there won't be enough water to flush everything down. 

You could also try to find an older toilet with 3.5 gallon flush instead of the standard 1.6 gallon that is the standard now. 

This post reminded me of when my kids started using toilet without our help. We eventually figured out that they were using like half of a roll each time because they were terrified waste might touch their hands. Was kind of funny, but expensive because took us a while to figure it out -- older home so we assumed it was a plumbing problem, and obviously went through a lot of TP! If similar situation, then any additional repair after plumber informed you of the problem should be the tenant's responsibility.