Why LL's inspect their properties/dumbest tenant ever (lease, renter, deposit)
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My husband walks in the door today and tells me he just got a call from one of the tenants - she went in to the basement and thinks there is at least a foot of water in it. She also said she noticed a noise "like a toilet running" for the past few days (Why didn't you call us? You pay the water bill, dummy).
Ok. Husband calls our handyman/contractor who is right around the corner fixing up the disaster property we just bought and asks him to please meet him at this particular property.
I get a call about 30 minutes later telling me that it wasn't a water pipe leaking or anything else, the sewer line backed up and broke.
A foot of water? More like a foot of raw sewage (ok, inches). Does this girl NOT have a nose? Apparently she does because she then told my husband she noticed a really bad smell in the hallway, but thought is was the 3 guys who live on the second floor "creating the bad smell, because they are, like, boys". From a graduate student, no less, and there is a door to the basement in her kitchen and the hallway;her kitchen didn't smell funky? And when did she start to notice this? About a MONTH ago.
Not to mention she's lived there for a full 11 months and the "boys" never stunk the place up with their eating habits/evacuation issues before......
This is why LL's INSPECT their properties on a regular basis.
We were so busy at the end of April through now with kids/communions/confirmations we skipped our monthly "poke around" - where we only go check out the basement (make sure no one is storing anything in it or using it), the detached garage, the trees, the roof (slate roof), the yard, to make sure garbage is being taken out and not piled up in the back of the house, etc.
Big mistake on our part, but the next time any renter asks WHY LL's inspect their properties? THIS is why.
Yeah.....had a young couple who didn't bother to tell us about a BR that had water leaking in from one wall for about 3 days, until it started into the LR.
They said they only used for storage so it didn't really bother them up until then.
Of course, by then, the wallboard also needed to be torn out along with the carpeting.
Taking up for tenants for a minute, and this isn't meant as a criticism or accusation towards any landlord on this thread.
Some tenants don't report problems because the LL either won't fix the problem (past experience) or will blame the tenant.
I've had that happen (decades ago) to me. One issue was the separation of shower tile due to incorrect installation. That was "my" fault. As was the thermostat on the water heater going bad. Neither was repaired by the LL but by me. Neither was a major fix, BUT. That was the only time I didn't get my security back, he'd spent it and it wasn't worth going to small claims.
We have LL's here who don't pay their water bills (that happened years ago in PA to Mrs. NBP, the gas bill hadn't been paid either so no water and no heat in December). That's not the tenants fault but when we go to shut them off there is an issue. And we can't force the LL to pay the bill. Net result-out of luck tenant in a Health Department condemned house.
The house I mentioned that had the shower issue also had a roach infestation. The LL would not mitigate, again claiming lack of funds.
That was the house that a very pregnant Mrs. NBP had to go to the main office of BGE with our lease, ID and check for the deposit and 1st month's bill to have the electric turned on because the LL owed $27K in electric charges (this was in 1984). Apparently he'd tried to have it turned on by his friends in the past. The lack of electric was something that neither he or his Realtor rep mentioned. We found out on move in day when the toilet needed flushing and nothing happened (well water).
Taking up for tenants for a minute, and this isn't meant as a criticism or accusation towards any landlord on this thread.
Some tenants don't report problems because the LL either won't fix the problem (past experience) or will blame the tenant.
I've had that happen (decades ago) to me. One issue was the separation of shower tile due to incorrect installation. That was "my" fault. As was the thermostat on the water heater going bad. Neither was repaired by the LL but by me. Neither was a major fix, BUT. That was the only time I didn't get my security back, he'd spent it and it wasn't worth going to small claims.
We have LL's here who don't pay their water bills (that happened years ago in PA to Mrs. NBP, the gas bill hadn't been paid either so no water and no heat in December). That's not the tenants fault but when we go to shut them off there is an issue. And we can't force the LL to pay the bill. Net result-out of luck tenant in a Health Department condemned house.
This is true.
The bad ones have likely ruined it for the rest of you who are good and decent. Kind of like dating. We lived in a place where the downstairs bath had a repeated sewage leak happening from the upstairs bath directly above. The leak was happening from pipes under the upper bath and soaking through the ceiling to deposit raw sewage all over the lower bath. Repeatedly. I cannot recall how many times I was in there to clean with boots, gloves, a mask, and bleach, sewage splattered on EVERY surface. Joy.
The owner would send someone to "fix it" and it would happen again, and again. We pretty much never were able to use that lower bath and broke the lease to just get out of there. Thing is, they weren't "fixing" anything, just replacing the ceiling sheetrock and painting it again and again!
Even in my current place, where I am generally happy, the maintenance guy recently tried to blame us for his jury-rigged outdoor "support" for one of our window units not being in the same exact spot as it was previously. Well duh, when you opt for a pieced-together jumble of two-by-fours and some slivers of plastic stacked underneath, instead of using a real window unit support bracket, it's not going to last forever.
Now on the other hand, my mother recently discovered her property in horrid conditions, including mold growth all over from a long-neglected upper bathroom leak that the tenants didn't bother to report, even though she would have of course fixed it had they told her, but those same tenants also trashed the house entirely, skipped out on the rent, and left it unlocked and open when they did leave. Perils of being a long distance landlord in her case, with a neglectful (and now fired) property manager.
Taking up for tenants for a minute, and this isn't meant as a criticism or accusation towards any landlord on this thread.
Some tenants don't report problems because the LL either won't fix the problem (past experience) or will blame the tenant.
I know some tenants are also afraid that if they complain about anything, that their rent will be raised.
My owner does inspections twice a year. He changes/checks smoke detector batteries, then does a quick walk-through to look for running toilets, leaking pipes, showers, make sure pilot lights are lit, heater working, etc.
It's funny how some people call constantly with complaints about everything and anything, and others never call. He'll find that someone's heater isn't lit (gas pilot light) and they'll say, oh yeah, that hasn't worked all winter... So silly, because the owner is fantastic about fixing things and the rent gets raised minimally, and not even every year. It baffles me.
I know some tenants are also afraid that if they complain about anything, that their rent will be raised.
My owner does inspections twice a year. He changes/checks smoke detector batteries, then does a quick walk-through to look for running toilets, leaking pipes, showers, make sure pilot lights are lit, heater working, etc.
It's funny how some people call constantly with complaints about everything and anything, and others never call. He'll find that someone's heater isn't lit (gas pilot light) and they'll say, oh yeah, that hasn't worked all winter... So silly, because the owner is fantastic about fixing things and the rent gets raised minimally, and not even every year. It baffles me.
When we moved in here, we were urged by the maintenance guys to call about any problems. They said "Don't be afraid to call! Everyone is always afraid to call!" Apparently there'd been a rodent problem before that got out of hand because people did not report it and tried to remedy it themselves.
I would imagine people also don't call if they don't want to mess with having to schedule time to be there for the repair; I can see this being the mentality with smaller issues. Right now our largest window unit AC is malfunctioning insofar as the digital display is "frozen" so I cannot adjust the temperature. It's costing me money, because I cannot use the energy saver feature or raise the thermostat. I should have them fix it, but I am more likely to wait until something else needs to be fixed as well and have them hopefully come deal with it all one day.
My mother has a tenant currently who calls or emails at least once a week, about every single tiny thing, driving her nuts. Personally, I prefer the "you leave me alone, I will leave you alone" way of renting.
Living one floor above a basement full of raw sewage for even a day is ridiculous.
She didn't care to call or inspect it herself until yesterday and ANY time our tenants call us about a problem, we get over to inspect it right away. The fix is right behind it and usually takes place on the same day if it can.
She's lived there for 11 months, she knows this.
My intention wasn't to bash tenants as a whole, rather to show why LLs who CARE about their properties TRY to inspect them as often as possible & it's in order to avoid issues like this from happening or getting out of control.
Even if she intentionally flushed something down the toilet that got hung up in the old pipes (house is around 100 years old) and created the blockage, how do you prove it? Unless her name is engraved on the offending article, it could have been anyone, and accidents happen anyway. Not to mention that this isn't something "new" that happens to a lot of the old buildings/houses in the city that has cast iron pipes. Almost to be expected at one point or another. My parents just had it happen to one of their older properties in the fall and when I was a kid it happened to another one of theirs (that no longer exists). I remember that one b/c my mother sent me to hang out with my dad and his friend who was a plumber while they fixed/cleaned up. I was maybe 10 years old - and I have NO idea why she let me go. I probably begged to go and "help daddy". Wasn't allowed in the building, played in the backyard with the kids of one of their tenants. I learned a lot of new words that day and found out one use for lime. I can still see my dad covered from head to toe in the white lime dust and the pissed as hell look on his face.
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We lived in a place where the downstairs bath had a repeated sewage leak happening from the upstairs bath directly above. The leak was happening from pipes under the upper bath and soaking through the ceiling to deposit raw sewage all over the lower bath. Repeatedly. I cannot recall how many times I was in there to clean with boots, gloves, a mask, and bleach, sewage splattered on EVERY surface. Joy. 
