I got all great advices from this forum regarding issues with tenants, hence, am seeking for another advice.
Shortly after moving in, my tenant reported an issue on the kitchen range, that one of burners is not working. I got the technician immediately and fixed the issue. I confirmed with my tenants at that time everything was working well.
A month after repair, she reported that she found crack on the glass top of the range. She suspect the technician made a crack.
Luckily, I took the photo right before she moved in. The picture clearly shows that glass top was clean with no crack at all.
I sent her the photo and told her that there was no crack when she moved in. In addition, I told her that I canât judge whose fault it is because she had not reported the issue for a month after repair. Then, I suggested that she should contact the technician directly and resolve the issue with them.
However, I am not sure if she would take care of this issue well.
My main concern is safety because it seems that crack on glass top may cause some hazard.
At the same time, I donât think I should be responsible for this damage that most likely was made by tenants. Although they claim it is from burner fix, it is hard to buy it since they havenât reported the issue for a month.
What would be the best choice for me?
Should I ask them to repair it at their cost?
Should I just replace range (it is range with oven) and pay for it myself? They also asked to replace dishwasher and I agreed to replace it although it is still functional. Besides, I just paid $420 for burner repairâŚ
Should I ask the technician to replace the glass top and ask tenants to pay half or something like that? Not sure this is the feasible option.
One related question.
I found that many tenants donât use appliances with care. So far, I replaced washer, dryer, dishwasher(soon) within 2-3 years. After this experience, I am leaning toward to buy cheap appliances and expect them to be replaced more often than usual. Whatâs the strategy you use when you buy new appliances at your rental home?
Ok, just some comments because I need a break from workâŚ
From my experience, do not give a glass top type of stove to tenants. It will scratch up cuz you are right, they wonât take care of it and frankly one does have to be careful with heavy pots on a glass top.
Too late now, but this is the type of tenant I avoid. If the tenant asks too many questions at the open house I move their application to the bottom somehow.
IN A PERFECT WORLD, I suppose I would ask the tenant to pay for the repair, but at the end of the day you have a tenant who is more disgruntled so that is not good too. #3 is a decent compromise and I suppose worth trying. Meaning ask the tenant that you are willing to split it THIS TIME but maybe you make it clear or do another walkthrough to address anything else that the tenant thinks is off so that you are not surprised once again.
I recently dealt with a tenant wanting a new garbage disposal unit and a new faucet.
I was traveling and If I were not, my method of dealing with this wouldâve been to buy a cheap unit/faucet and send my handyman to swap it out.
Instead my tenant bought both the pieces and found a Yelp service. Net result: about 200$ more than my way.
My tenant was gracious enough to spit the cost of the faucet with me because they wanted a more fancier trim than the cheap one I was suggesting.
If you are starting to see an increasing escalation of âfix-thisâ from the tenant, you donât want to renew your lease and should find someone saner.
I put in the lease the appliances are the tenants responsibility. If they are old I will replace them ⌠no repair just buy new ones. If they are new when the tenant moves in then itâs their responsibility. A home warranty is a good ide also. Pays for repairs and the home warranty repair guy will act as a referee to determine if it was damaged by the tenant
Appliances break all the time, and most of the time repairs are not worth it. I had repairs done to fridges, stoves, dishwashers, washers, etc. Some turned out to be good repairs that made the appliances last longer, some didnât. Considering the risks taken with the repairs. nowadays I almost always replace unless itâs a minor issue.
Buy cheap appliances with 5-yr warranty/service plan. Doesnât cost that much but gives you peace of mind and some shield of responsibility when things break. Donât buy the cheapest but definitely low-end unless your house is high-end. If the appliance survives 5 years without a repair, consider yourself lucky and service plan investment well spent. I think Home Depot plans will return you some money if no repair was requested at the end of contract period.
Definitely no glass top. In your situation itâs not possible to pinpoint exactly what happened. Itâs possible that the technician visit caused a stress in the glass which only showed up a month later when your tenant bumped it or put something heavy on it. Impossible to know now. Itâs unrealistic to expect your tenant to pay for it, and a disgruntled tenant can cause a lot more damage than what a stove costs. Unless you know the tenant well and have good control over him/her, better not take that risk.
Recently bought a pair of washer and dryer on Best Buy with their 5-year protection plan. They claim to send their Geek Squad repair people to take care of things cost free. Itâs not expensive so I figured itâs worth the peace of mind.
Oh I did not know Best Buy has its own brand now. They are a lot cheaper than Samsung and LG. With the Geek Squad plan thrown it they are still cheaper.
How much is home warranty nowdays? I remember it was a couple hundred a year like 10 yrs ago that should cover pretty much everything in the house, just paid the deductible
Short update:
I ordered both dishwasher and electric range.
When I let my tenant know that I would just replace the range due to safety concerns, she said she would contribute to it given that late report on the damage after repair works. I probably just pay for it myself. However, her response really reassured me that they are nice people.
I had hard time to find coil electric range (instead of glass top, which would be dangerous to use even with minor crack) in stock but found one eventually in best buy and placed an order.
Thanks all for the great advice here!
Lesson learned: I will never going to try repair appliances unless I have warranty.
Iâm willing to believe that the replacement started a crack. The stress couldâve built up from repeated heating which is why it showed up later. Hard to say⌠I donât think you can ask the technician to pay for it, because no proof that they caused it either. This seems to be a âsometimes things happenâ situation.
Of course, if things keep breaking faster than previous tenants, you may eventually have to say âenough is enough.â
My real mistake was that I tried to repair. I should have just replaced from the beginning. I wasted $420 due to this decision.
However, at the same time, I feel bad about replacing appliances for (fixable?) issues given how much waste we are creating to our environment.
If the same thing had happened to me then I would have just used other burners since 3 of them are still working fine. However, I canât say this to tenants.
Anyway, I decided to buy 5-year warranty from best buy as others recommended. However, I am not 100% sure if this would really work since premium home warranty was pretty much useless with tons of hidden restrictions and long waiting time in my case. This experience made me really skeptical about warranty. Weâll see.
Ok, a few more comments before I go back to work (yes, on a SundayâŚ):
Ok, I wouldnât âbeat yourself upâ or second guess for trying to repair something, either by yourself or with help. Thatâs the job. Thatâs why when morons say oh just hire a management company I look away⌠You just donât know how hard it can be, landlordingâŚ
Places like APD can be another source for apartment level appliances and they usually will deliver and take out the broken one. YMMV since they may not service your areaâŚ
Yes, I had a so-so home warranty experience when we moved to this San Bruno home. Covered somethings but not all due to technicalities in the legal eâs⌠Hate insurance companies!!!
We bought a warranty with our dishwasher from Home Depot. The reviews I read after buying it were abysmal. Had an issue within 1 year. Guy came out -thought it would take 3 weeks, but he showed up in less than a week, figured out there was some software reset, showed me how to do it. Super happy.
I think I should be trusted but apparently I am not due to regulations.
Too bad being 60 years old and starting discussions on USENET in the 80s is not on my Internet Resume.
I have also have a landlord tenant issue and I am wondering if the policies here may promote a thread hijacking culture where new folks without posting permission ask their questions at the end of existing threads?
Is the solution to gain credibility here is to post meaningless, âyes youâre rightâ messages, until I have a privilege to post my own legitimate California Bay Area real estate question?
I have not yet found it addressed in the existing threads. Tho I will search more because thatâs all I am permitted to do.
than my way.
