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We're having some plumbing issues taken care of at the end of this week (before they get worse) at the house we rent out to tenants.
The plumbing issue requires the water to be turned off and for NOTHING to go through the sewer lines during the time the plumber is working (because he'd be drenched with raw sewage and effluvia, and then we'd have to get a special company to come out and sanitize and remove the waste and waste water)--about 6 hours.
We've notified all the tenants--two of whom will be out of the house during the time the plumber is there, but the disabled tenant is asking the following:
1. Can he stay, put a bucket on the floor in his bedroom with a towel doubled up underneath it so he can use the bucket as a toilet?
2. Can he stay and use the backyard as a toilet?
3. Can he stay and put a bucket in the tub and use that if he covers it with a doubled up newspaper?
4. Can he stay and what if he has a container with a screw-on lid to use??
My answer to all of those is the same: No, it's not sanitary and it's not appropriate. Maybe I'm taking a hard line on this, but his disability makes him clumsy and he has balance problems too.
He has no friends, but his mom may be able to take him for a few hours and drop him off at her BF's house but then my tenant would have no way of getting home IF his mom has to take her BF to the doctors as an emergency. His mom is apparently "on call" for a possible unscheduled surgery for her 94 yr old BF. She has told her son that she'll try to take him for a few hours, but to not count on her. Her BF is pretty close to checking out, and I do understand her position.
I've suggested the tenant go to the local library (his mom would drive him), where he'd be in an a/c environment, have books, computers, & chairs with arms for him to support his arms, bathrooms and water available. He doesn't like this idea, and says he needs to stretch out and he's not sure how comfortable the chairs are etc.
He asked me to pay for a motel room. I told him the water being off for 6 hours is not a habitability issue, and if HE wants to pay for it, that's his choice. He doesn't want to pay for it. I don't even know if we have rent-by-the-hour motels here anyway. He said it's a habitability issue for him, I disagreed.
I'm certainly open to reasonable solutions. BTW, staying at our house is NOT a reasonable solution.
My next step is to call his social worker (he gave me her name and ph #) and call Adult Protective Services. What he really needs is an adult babysitter who will take him into their home, have a special chair for him so he can stretch out if he wants, but I have a suspicion that it won't be satisfactory to him either.
I understand what you are going through and I believe there are people who will not be reasonable and try to work with the situation like others.
You have made numerous suggestions and indeed you are not a babysitter.
Perhaps you can drop him of or pick him up at the library that is all I can add but you don't have to pay for a motel...if he can live on his own he can stay some where on his own for these hours or go with his mom and the old BF....
How would you respond if he wasn't disabled? --- Sometimes, it seems like we get so absorbed with appearing 'politically correct' ... that we lose our common sense.
Let him use a bucket. You are being difficult and controlling.
Get him a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. Heck, they sell them at boat stores with little toilet seats that snap onto the rim of the bucket.
When the plumbing is back on he dumps the bucket into the toilet and cleans it out.
Just ask him to place the bucket on a non carpeted area, or place a hefty bag and cardboard under the bucket.
I don't think I'm being difficult OR controlling trying to watch out for my property, the original 1945 red oak hardwood floors, and the problems in general of the tenant, his balance and other issues, and his ability to use things effectively let alone clean up after himself and clean out things.
If I had a property manager instead of doing landlording myself, I'm sure the PM wouldn't give this much time or thought to a solution or options.
If his mother can take him for a few hours then call his social worker and have him/her make arrangements for his return to the apartment once the plumbing problem is fixed.
You are perfectly within your rights as a LL where this is concerned and I would be flabbergasted by poster sware2cod's response except he was posting tongue-in-cheek!
I could be wrong, but at least in California, if the rental property is temporarily unhabitable, it's the landlord's responsibility make it up to the tenant, i.e. pay for the hotel, transportation, etc.
If the water is off for SIX HOURS? That's not uninhabitable, that's a temporary plumbing problem. Or a temporary electricity problem. Or any of those problems that the rest of us have occasionally and have to deal with. We don't get the electric company paying for us to stay in a motel if the electricity is off for a few hours (and it gets over 100).
Overnight, it might be reasonable for the landlord to pay for a motel room. Six hours in one day, not hardly.
Although I grant you, from things I've heard, it might still be the law in California.
I could be wrong, but at least in California, if the rental property is temporarily unhabitable, it's the landlord's responsibility make it up to the tenant, i.e. pay for the hotel, transportation, etc.
I don't believe this is a habitability issue in CA because everything is being done to get the problem fixed and to reduce the amount of time the tenant is inconvenienced. It's not like he has to spend the night elsewhere. Most folks work an 8 hour day and are gone. The tenant is disabled and is ambulatory, but homebound except for going out to dr appts, other appts, and spending at least one afternoon a week with his mom at a local restaurant.
Asking any tenant to be inconvenienced for 6 hours while a repair is being made, and when there are other options available that he elects to NOT take, is not on me as a LL, imho.
The general rule in CA is that during the time the property is being rented, the LL must do maintenance work and make repairs which are necessary to keep it habitable. For me to not do the repairs, when an issue is brought to my attention by way of an annual inspection or other, would lead to an even bigger problem, causing tenant displacement for a number of days if not weeks. I'm doing the best I can, and I believe I am being very reasonable.
I don't think I'm being difficult OR controlling trying to watch out for my property, the original 1945 red oak hardwood floors, and the problems in general of the tenant, his balance and other issues, and his ability to use things effectively let alone clean up after himself and clean out things.
If I had a property manager instead of doing landlording myself, I'm sure the PM wouldn't give this much time or thought to a solution or options.
Considering you have had two threads related to this individual in less than a week it starts to look like you have it in for him. You already said he is clumsy on his feet....and doesn't get out much. Get him a bucket. You might want to rethink being a LL.
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