Am I allowed to use the tenant's security deposit for this? (low income, section 8) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

englishtutorjun · 02-21-2017, 04:09 PM

My tenant has a security deposit that she received from an assistance program because she falls in the low income category. She also qualified for Section 8 assistance program, and when we ran some background checks, we did not find any red flags, so we decided to rent our home to her. A week before she moved in, the Section 8 office did an inspection on my house, and passed it, saying it is ready to be rented. Now a week after the tenant moved in, the vent fan of the bathroom caught fire, because it was left on for too long and the fire dept had to come in to make sure the fire had not spread, so they broke open the ceiling of the bathroom, leaving behind a dirty patch. Luckily, the damage wasn't major, and my tenant wasnt home when this happened. Fast forward a week, and I took care of repairing the damage, and also painted back the ceiling wall, in addition to repairing a smoke detector, which she said stopped working. That sounded weird, because just a week before, the Section 8 inspector had inspected it, right in my presence, and we both saw it was working fine. I still went ahead, and fixed it, and the total repair cost has come out to be around $1000. I did not want to use my insurance , for obvious reasons, that include having to pay a higher future premium, some of the cost still having to be borne by me etc. I would like to know, if I can use the tenant's security deposit for this repair.When I ran this through her, she said that she did not owe us anything, and that she should not be held liable for the damage, since per her, the damage was caused, because the vent fan was old, and that could have happened to anyone, anytime. I would like to understand what my options are now. I am stuck with her for a year, and I am not sure if this is a strong reason to go the eviction route.

expatCA · 02-21-2017, 05:39 PM

[quote=englishtutorjun;47274935]My tenant has a security deposit that she received from an assistance program because she falls in the low income category. She also qualified for Section 8 assistance program, and when we ran some background checks, we did not find any red flags, so we decided to rent our home to her. A week before she moved in, the Section 8 office did an inspection on my house, and passed it, saying it is ready to be rented. Now a week after the tenant moved in, the vent fan of the bathroom caught fire, because it was left on for too long and the fire dept had to come in to make sure the fire had not spread, so they broke open the ceiling of the bathroom, leaving behind a dirty patch. Luckily, the damage wasn't major, and my tenant wasnt home when this happened. Fast forward a week, and I took care of repairing the damage, and also painted back the ceiling wall, in addition to repairing a smoke detector, which she said stopped working. That sounded weird, because just a week before, the Section 8 inspector had inspected it, right in my presence, and we both saw it was working fine. I still went ahead, and fixed it, and the total repair cost has come out to be around $1000. I did not want to use my insurance , for obvious reasons, that include having to pay a higher future premium, some of the cost still having to be borne by me etc. I would like to know, if I can use the tenant's security deposit for this repair.When I ran this through her, she said that she did not owe us anything, and that she should not be held liable for the damage, since per her, the damage was caused, because the vent fan was old, and that could have happened to anyone, anytime. I would like to understand what my options are now. I am stuck with her for a year, and I am not sure if this is a strong reason to go the eviction route.[/quote]
Not in CA.

How do you know the vent fan did not fail due to old age? They eventually do.

tickyul · 02-21-2017, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by englishtutorjun

My tenant has a security deposit that she received from an assistance program because she falls in the low income category. She also qualified for Section 8 assistance program, and when we ran some background checks, we did not find any red flags, so we decided to rent our home to her. A week before she moved in, the Section 8 office did an inspection on my house, and passed it, saying it is ready to be rented. Now a week after the tenant moved in, the vent fan of the bathroom caught fire, because it was left on for too long and the fire dept had to come in to make sure the fire had not spread, so they broke open the ceiling of the bathroom, leaving behind a dirty patch. Luckily, the damage wasn't major, and my tenant wasnt home when this happened. Fast forward a week, and I took care of repairing the damage, and also painted back the ceiling wall, in addition to repairing a smoke detector, which she said stopped working. That sounded weird, because just a week before, the Section 8 inspector had inspected it, right in my presence, and we both saw it was working fine. I still went ahead, and fixed it, and the total repair cost has come out to be around $1000. I did not want to use my insurance , for obvious reasons, that include having to pay a higher future premium, some of the cost still having to be borne by me etc. I would like to know, if I can use the tenant's security deposit for this repair.When I ran this through her, she said that she did not owe us anything, and that she should not be held liable for the damage, since per her, the damage was caused, because the vent fan was old, and that could have happened to anyone, anytime. I would like to understand what my options are now. I am stuck with her for a year, and I am not sure if this is a strong reason to go the eviction route.

A vent-fan, or any electric-fan for that matter, will not catch on fire if it is in good repair.....even if it is left on for extended periods of time. A fan in ill-repair will die, sometimes it will be a catastrophic death.

Ruth4Truth · 02-21-2017, 08:50 PM

How old was that fan, OP?

WyoNewk · 02-21-2017, 09:01 PM

I've never heard of a vent fan catching fire because it ran too long. I have an old fashioned darkroom in my house, and when I was using it the fan ran constantly -- all day long. Blaming the tenant for this one would be a stretch. I'm a landlord, have been for 35 years, and I'd certainly never blame the tenant for a bathroom fan catching fire due to overuse.

SoCal25 · 02-21-2017, 09:02 PM

A vent fan caught fire because it "was left on too long"? Does that sound normal to you? It's not where I come from. Be grateful it wasn't worse.

oldtrader · 02-22-2017, 12:22 PM

As the others have said, the answer is NO. This falls under your maintenance of the property.

Smoke alarms need replaced every 10 years or often sooner, as they wear out. The smoke from that fan fire, will damage the smoke alarm near it, and will need to be replaced. The smoke alarm is a sensitive instrument to detect smoke, a fire will overload it and damage it, and you need to replace it.

Remember this tenant had the security deposit paid by a government assistance program, and she is there under section 8. If you try to stick her with a fan catching fire claiming it happened because it was left on too long, and that the fire alarm went bad, you will find the wrath of the government coming down on you. That is not something that you can blame on a tenant.

I know a little about this type thing, as I was an investment real estate broker from 1972 till I retired, and I bought sold and exchanged a lot of rentals. I was also the president of a county wide rental owners and managers association for 3 years. We had an annual all day meeting and one thing we had was speakers to explain the type of problems you are talking about. They are not the tenants fault, but some of your equipment got old and wore out and caused a fire according to the experts we had speak to us.

Pay it out of your maintenance budget, or turn it in to the insurance company, your choice.

englishtutorjun · 02-22-2017, 02:03 PM

Thanks to all of you who took the time to respond. I definitely do not want to be taking someone else's money unfairly. I have decided to pay from my pocket for this situation.

englishtutorjun · 02-22-2017, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

How old was that fan, OP?

About 15 months old. The smoke alarm was brand new, and was inspected by the officer to be working fine, in my presence, which my tenant is saying, could have been a human mistake!

Ruth4Truth · 02-22-2017, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by englishtutorjun

About 15 months old. The smoke alarm was brand new, and was inspected by the officer to be working fine, in my presence, which my tenant is saying, could have been a human mistake!

Well, I have to admit it sounds odd that a new fan would burn out like that. Improperly installed, perhaps? Causing a short in the wiring?? The new smoke alarm going bad sounds very odd, too. Why wouldn't a new smoke alarm be working fine? Did she tamper with it? Did she set it off with smoke from the kitchen, then try to disable it, to stop the noise?