Fix It Or Give Them A Shot At Fixing It?
We have several properties with college students as tenants. As you can imagine with the parties they throw, some things can get damaged. Because of this we do a lot of walk throughs.
We noticed on our last walk through that one of the tenants tackled the doors on a bedroom (apparently) so we had a maintenance company replace the door at a cost of $250. Door frame and so on. Anyway, the tenants could have fixed the door for half that but I really doubt they would have. Bottom line is do you give your tenants a deadline to fix things or do you just have the issue fixed right away? Im just afraid if we let them go it will only compound more issue and or use up security deposit at end.
Any advice
Never let tenants fix anything. I have a plumber for a tenant, and I still call in MY PLUMBER to fix plumbing in that house. The tenant who swore up and down that he could build the shed in a weekend if I bought the materials ended up costing me a citation and weeks of anxiety (and tons more money) getting the shed built by my REGULAR CONTRACTOR.
Tenants are unreliable contractors.
Stay in control. Bring in your own guys, get the job done right.
My two cents. (Given after losing those two cents to tenants who promised they "could do it, no problem."
MC
[addsig]
Bears repeating....
Never let the tenant fix anything!!!
Jim
I had a tenant who just voluntarily helped me out a bit while I was fixing a problem- debris had fallen down the chimney and I had to clean it out so the water heater and furnace vented properly. He brought me some buckets, hauled the debris out side, and then started attacking the problem himself from another vent hole (bricks had fallen down and had to be broken with a crowbar to fit out of the vent holes).
I thought "What a great tenant- jumps right in and helps me out". It took about two and a half hours to fix the problem. Next rent check was $250 short. I gave him a call and he said he felt he should get a rent reduction for the work he did. I told him $100 an hour was a bit excessive. Wound up giving him $50 to keep him happy, but next time a tenant offers to help I am going to mutter something about liability and decline...
Chris
To be safe, never let them fix it, but I have made accomodations for minor repairs. A tenant for example replaced a kitchen faucet. They got pre-approval and we agreed on a style and dollar amount for the replacement ahead of time. I did check on it within a month of replacement and there was no problem, but I think it depends on the tenant and if you live close, why not have it done by the pros. This tenant went on to suggest that we work together on trimming the trees...it worked out great and he even supplied the tools at no cost for labr or anything else except haul away....he really wanted them trimmed because of all the figs (two fig trees over 20 ft tall).
I had a tenant who wanted to rewire the panel because it was an older fuse panel. No way. All i need is the tenant to get hurt and sue me. Which is why I would never let a tenant do any tree work. Tree work, roofs, and electric - let me just write a blank check.
Bears reiterating - never let the tenant fix anything.
They get hurt they sue. They mess up, you are at fault
Okay. I agree with you all to a large extent ... with some exceptions. I manage a property for a client that lives overseas. I go to great length to keep costs down, cash flow high, etc.
I had a very lovely tenant who is a licensed plumber. The house he lives in and we are managing clearly needed new faucets and toilet guts. The owner knew this and asked us to replace them.
The tenant offered to do this and I agreed if, and only if, he did it not as a tenant but under his license. We agreed. He did a great job and it saved the owner some money.
Another time, I had a tenant that worked for a licensed contractor. He wanted to rent my house (they did the work on it) and offered to do some repairs as a reduction in rent. The porch needed some work, the back steps needed work, etc. I agreed and put it in the lease that he was responsible for all repairs at his own cost. Anything over $50 had to be preapproved, etc. He eventually moved out but he truly treated the house like it was his own and cared a great deal about the details.
All this said, I rarely let the tenants do the repairs but there are exceptions to every rule.