New Landlord Question (Placerville: rental, homeowners insurance, home)

[MisterO]

Hi,

I have a rental home in Placerville. California. The tennants recently caused $1000 water damage to the half the home's carpeting due to a unattended leaky water pipe in the bathroom.

Of course they refuse to pay any of the repair costs although the plumber and carpet folks concur that it was gross neglect on their part for the extent of the damage.

Can I use a portion of their security deposit to pay for this damage, or am I stuck with the cost out-of-pocket?

[LuVS]

Did they let you know they had a leak in writting? If not, how were you suppose to know there was a repair you had to make? They need to inform you of any problems the have in the unit in writting.

[fromthebay]

Yes that is something you would take from the security deposit

[DMenscha]

An unattended leaky water pipe? If the pipe was leaking, that's on you to fix. If they weren't at home when that occurred, that is not their responsibility (tenants get to go on vacation too).

Notification in writing is not a part of the Landlord Tenant Act for an item such as this where the urgency of the repair is the most important factor. As a matter of fact, in a situation where the tenant discovers a problem, they are fully justified in calling a plumber to fix the problem (at your expense) before they notify the landlord. Of course their second phone call should be to the landlord.

As a landlord, I think you would want them to act in just that manner so as to minimize any damage to your property. Make a claim to your homeowners insurance.

[MisterO]

Great answers guys. Thanx. I let my property manager handle this, and the tennant refused to pay. This happened while the tennant was home, they just neglected it for several days until they got tired of having wet feet... By the time they called the property manager to send a plumber, it was WAY to late.... (Over $1000 clean-up bill)

Of course the tennant refused to pay. My only option was to sue or at the very least have the PM put the squeeze on the tennant, but...the tennant is a single Mom with 4 kids, so... what's a guy to do... Hopefully they'll be more careful in the future. Thanx again for all the posts...

[Luke9686]

Just take it from the security deposit. Suing them will be worthless more than likely. It takes too much time, and they probably don't have anything anyway.

P.S. As a landlord, try not to get into the "single mom with 4 kids" thing. You are in it to make money, not deal with peoples personal problems. The second you start letting tenants take advantage of you, thats when the crap starts rolling downhill.