All Forum Posts by: Ryan Mulrooney

In case somebody runs across this old thread, I wanted to say how it was resolved. When I first paid for excess water usage, I calculated it based on the same quarter the previous year. I knew I would see the tenant at moveout and wanted to discuss how he would pay the past due water balance of about $600, knowing this was a sore point. So I went back and evaluated water usage after the repair was made. I found that based on that amount, I needed to kick in a couple hundred more dollars. I shared my calculations with the tenant. I was ready to show the lease provision in which the tenant is responsible for repair and upkeep of the property and to report any service issues immediately, and I was also ready to be very firm (even if it went to court) on the idea that no mitigation would be considered before issue was reported.  The tenant accepted my offer and paid the rest of the water and the day of moveout. I didn't need to get into a back-and-forth about the lease, but I was prepared to. I would say to always base any offers to mitigate on specific lease provisions. Any offers based on fairness, generosity or sense of duty will be turned against you. If you're a tenant reading this, when you move in, check the little wheel on the water meter and make so no water is being used when the house is vacant. If it is, point it out to the landlord and note it on your move-in checklist.

Yesterday was the first time a tenant moved our of our rental home and left damage inside the home. I have some questions about how to value it. There were four areas of concern that I noted during the walkthrough:

1) A $600 kitchen ceiling fan -- the centerpiece of the kitchen decor -- had been replaced by a cheesy $40 bathroom fixture. The tenant said it stopped working. I doubt that. He never mentioned a problem with it when he was living there. It was not left on the property, and he did not have an explanation for where it went. He put up his own fixtures in two other places but returned my original fixtures. The fan was perhaps 10 years old, but my move-in photos show it to be working and in excellent condition. Do I charge full replacement cost with installation or some depreciated cost?

2) He mounted a flat television over the fireplace and left four 3/8" holes plus impact damage into the actual bricks, not the mortar. I was asked whether mounting there was OK in the beginning, and I said yes. This does not seem like basic wear and tear or returning it to its original condition. What are your thoughts? I'm having repair quoted.

3) A mirrored closet door in the master br was cracked from some kind of impact. I had somebody out, and they said it could not be repaired. Tenant said they were heavy and hard to keep on the tracks, but didn't state how they came to be damaged. Replace would be $1,000 but it could be done with wood doors for $300. Is this chargable against the deposit?

4) He left a hideous trampoline in the back yard full of yard debris. He said he would come by and get it in a few days, so that has yet to happen. The turf under it is destroyed and the garden area around it is overgrown. Is yard repair and cleanup fair game against the deposit. Tenant was responsible for yard maintenance. The turf part of the lawn was ok, but all of the gardens looked like the property was a vacant hobo home.

Thanks

Thanks, Ned. The lease says the tenant is reponsible for paying water (though as you correctly surmise it is a lien against the property levied during summer taxes). The tenant is also responsible for pointing out maintenance issues as soon as they are discovered. Though the tenant has yet to make a specific mathematical proposal, he has left almost a $1k past due with the water dept as the lease comes to a close and has proposed that this is the amount for making it right.

Let me make my tenant's argument:

My water bills are higher than everyone I know, so it must be because of the toilets. After all my next bill after the repair was 20 percent less. So you as the landlord owe me for anything over that usage amount dating back to the beginning of the lease. 

(This particular municipality doesn't release usage stats, either aggregate or by address nor have any figures been shown. As the property owner, I have the usage stats for the property dating back to 2010.)

Hi. I'm hoping some of you have some thoughts on this water bill issue.

This past winter, my tenant contacted me about an outrageously large water bill. I immediately suspected an issue with one or more old toilets with brass innards, and my plumber confirmed that two were quietly trickling water down the bowl. I fixed them immediately (ouch, it was big). I looked at the tenant's bill for the same quarter the previous year as a benchmark and immediately and voluntarily paid half the big water bill, and again paid about a third of the bill for the quarter during which the repair was made. Now my tenant -- who is in arrears with the water department -- has told me he expects me to pay towards bills that he says were too large dating back two years to when he moved in, saying that it was obvious that the issue persisted much further back. In the lease, the tenant is responsible for reporting repair issues, and I'm responsible for repair. In all cases, I've made prompt repairs for known issues, even ones that I felt strongly were created by the tenant's actions. When the tenant moved in, I took video of the toilets and they were not running. I say that he had a duty to point out any issues (like when the water bill arrived) and the time so they could be investigated and/or mitigated. I suspect this will end up in small-claims. What are my liabilities and responsibilities? You may ask, were the bills actually higher? Yes, slightly higher than the previous tenant.