The Situation:
The tenant (Mitch) has received
higher-than-average water bills for the past two months. He calls his Charlotte property
manager who sends out a plumber to investigate. The plumber says there is a pipe cracked
underneath the driveway that will cost $2,500.00 to fix.
Mitch’s take on the situation:
“I just rent here. My water bill is usually $60.00/month. The last 2 months it’s been
$150.00/month. So, I’m out an extra
$180.00 at no fault of my own. I pay my
rent on time every month and don’t have the budget to afford this. If you ask me, the owner is lucky to have a
tenant like myself that doesn’t cause any problems.”
Bottom line: Mitch requests a
$180.00 reimbursement from the owner for excessive water expenses.
The owner’s take on the
situation:
“$2,500???? The rent on this place is $1,050.00/month, so
I’m looking at 2.5 months of rent down the drain. How does a pipe crack happen under a concrete
driveway?? And the tenant wants an
additional $180.00? Please let Mitch
know that I didn’t burrow under his driveway a few months ago with a hammer and
smash the pipe. Let me get back to you
on where I’m going to get the money to pay the mortgage and for this pipe
leak. I think there is assumption that
because I’m the landlord, I have millions of dollars sitting around for this
type of stuff. Not true!”
Bottom line: The owner does not
look at Mitch’s request (or the entire situation) favorably.
So who pays the incidental water
expense?
First of all, this is a bad
situation for everyone, with the exception of the plumber. The tenant has higher water bills at no fault
of his own. The owner has a broken pipe
at his house (and an unhappy tenant) at no fault of his own.
In life, things break. And things sometimes break with no one at
fault. We’re in a society that expects
100% uptime on everything, but that is a fallacy in a world where things wear
and rust out. And when things break,
there is cost and (usually) a mess to clean up.
And everyone expects some other party to pay for it (not me!!).
So we have to go to the lease for
guidance. Most standard leases that I’ve
seen say that unless there is “willful or wanton negligence” on behalf of the
landlord, landlords are not responsible for incidental damage from things
breaking. (Note: I’m not a lawyer and
don’t even play one on TV)
If the landlord sent someone to
fix an issue in a reasonable amount of time, he should be in the clear from
having to pay additional costs beyond the repair. That’s not to say there may not be additional
factors involved that may compel the owner (or tenant!) to offset the other’s
financial outlay. But, normally
speaking, the lease seems to offer this protection to the landlord.
So, if you are the tenant, what
to do? If Mitch has renters insurance
(which is a requirement of our leases), he has another venue to ask for relief
from.
We’ve had other similar examples:
a hot water heater leaking on to a laptop, food being ruined from a
refrigerator breaking down, and others.
To the tenant, it is a loss of a computer or replacing spoiled food; to
the landlord, it is buying or repairing a hot water heater or refrigerator. Ugh!
Bottom line: When things break,
it is not a good situation for anyone. But
realize that it is a part of life that is 100% guaranteed to happen to you many
times. Try to be civil and understanding
when it does. Neither party likes it!
Happy Landlording!
Brett Furniss is the head property manager of BDF Realty
(Charlotte
Residential Property Management), the trusted real estate advisor for Charlotte
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