My two brothers and I own a duplex. We have three young people living on one side. When I opened the January rent envelope I was SHOCKED. They had shorted me $483.36 and included a receipt for the same amount from a plumbing company. The work performed is irrelevant, I could have done it, and I did verify that it was real. My complaint was they called the plumber without calling me first. At this point, it's water under the bridge, but I'm still very angry. I went by the property and told them I was very upset and that I would call them this weekend to let them know how I would handle it. I want to sleep on it and I'd love anyones opinion as to how they think I should proceed. The plumber was already paid by the Tennant, so the only person out any money is me.

 

unless they asked you to perform the repairs, and you refused or severely procrastinated, I believe they are legaly responsable to pay all the rent. You may not want to push it too hard though, tenants usually have more rights than landlords, and if it turns into a war it could cost you much more than $500.for example, they could claim you threatened them and get a restraining order, and then you can't even set foot on the property.Owning rental property can be a real hassle, which is one reason I don't own any anymore.good luck.

 

I believe in CT it is the landlords respocibility to have the problems fixed, therefore if a tenent pulled this little stunt they would have to pay full rent, plus the plumber. It is there fault, they did not follow the proper procedures, had they informed yu and you did nothing about it, then they would be right to withhold that rent money. If they do not pay up, take them to small claims court, or evict them, or both.

 

was there a signed lease agreement on the rental?usually they have procedures for maintance.usually these things are discussed prior to leaseing or renting an apartment.maybe it was a misunderstanding on their part.

 

Do you mean you were next door and they didn't bother to call you? Did you inspect the plumber’s work? I wouldn't take the plumbers word, I would insist on seeing proof the work was really done.

If you were out of town or away from home when they need a plumber, a court would most likely favor the tenant. If they were next door and didn't say anything to you first you might win, but like Drunkenmonk said, it will cost you more than $500 to pursue it in court.

 

My landlord would have a cow if I did that, since he is also a plumber. Whenever something needs fixed we call him first.
If it's something we can do ourselves, or if we want to paint or whatever, we let him know and THEN he says to send him a receipt and deduct the amount from the rent check.

Make sure your tenants are clear on what procedure you want them to follow if something needs repair, and specify that you have to agree to outside repairs beforehand. (Put it on the lease agreement if you haven't already.) My landlord usually arrives within 3 days to do a repair unless it's an emergency.

 

This is a good question because without this as long as the renter is paying you the money owed you the court is in their favor. As far as making repairs without asking you first this should have not been done unless in your lease agreement (if you have one) it states any repairs done by renter will be deducted as payment to money owed for rent then the court is still in their favor. If not then I would probally take time to type up a new lease and have them sign, and include any repairs must be approved by landlord first. I do believe I'd give the plumber a call and ask who give him permission to do repairs on your property. Court system sucks when it comes to landlord/renters some are in your favor others in theirs. Just sounds like you need a new lease stating the do's and don't. Good luck hope some kind of arrangement can be made without a battle...

 

Do you have a Landlord/Tenant council in your locale.

They do in Calgary.
If while renting a property a tenant requires assitance to resolve a problem.They have to notify the landlord FIRST.
If they have shown that they have tried to contact you the landlord (Message on Answering machine, or Caller ID) on your phone and you are not available they have every right to notify a plumber for an emergency.
If the problem could be resolved with shutting a tap off.
They can wait until you are contacted to see what can be done by you.
The Tenant has rights also, Those being have Heat,Electrical /power & Water Supply.

If you cannot be contacted in a reasonalbe amount of time they can hire a plumber (remember for an Emergency ONLY) & deduct the amount of the expense from the rent cheque.

As a renter I always contacted my landlord if he could not be reached within 24 hrs, I could contract the work to a certified contractor.

The most important thing is to check to see what work was done & compare it with another company.

Depending on the circumstance ,I would say you could be fortunate to have a tenant that cares and did what they did.
Remember their rights also

I would Check the laws in your area.

 

I should make a couple of points. First, the Tennant's are very young, (19-21 years old). Second, our lease does state that they are to notify us for all repairs, etc., etc. Thirdly, the work performed was non emergency, ( replace toilet flush handle, flapper, and tank gasket as well as tub drain stopper and chrome plate.) There's no question that we're in the right, but the money has already been spent. My first angry impression was to tell them I wasn't paying for any of the bill. Now I'm leaning toward a compromise. I don't feel I should be stuck with the entire amount, but don't feel they should be either, since the repair was made. I just don't like paying $85.00 / hour for something I could have done much cheaper. You can bet they're much more frugal when spending their own money!

 

I would explain to them to contact you in the future on all repairs and then keep their deposit when they moved out. Hope you got a deposit.

 

Yep , the kids screwed up, isnt it scary how little the young people pay attention to paperwork? On a positive note, at least you have tenants that care, Ive seen them let water leaks go so long ,the floors fell thru. When questioned as why didnt they call the LL. the tenants said" we didnt want to be any trouble, and we didnt know , it was just a little leak, and we just emptied the gallon bucket nightly, before we went to bed , and then they smiled and added, where we try to conceive another gene pool depleted being". I would take issue with the plumber too, I can do what they did in twenty five minutes , with 20 bucks for parts, on a bad day. The standard plumber rate here is 85 bucks a hour too, so for 35 bucks for parts, they charged you almost five hours for a tank and drain fix, whew, bring on the PH