Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A long time ago we added a brief clause to our leases (even though the intent is generally outlined in other places including the tenant handbook) "Tenant responsible for plumbing costs due to tenant cause/clogs". Make 'em pay the bills.
What is very clearly stated in the lease that they all signed, and was written by a lawyer who also owns properties in the same city: you are all responsible.
I don't run a boarding house that has individual pottys and sewer lines for all.
This is what you and Rabbid need to understand. You are responsible for your roommates actions, and YOU need to prove that one individual created the issue. And go sue them for any charges/security lost DUE to their actions. I don't have to prove individual liability. All I have to prove is that you backed the sewer up by flushing tampons when it clearly states in the lease not to.
Not brain surgery.
Maybe we need to clarify what you initially wrote.
Is this a four unit premise with 2 units each sharing a sewer line?
So Units A & B share sewer line #1, and Units C & D share sewer line #2? because thats how YOU wrote it in your first post.
Maybe we need to clarify what you initially wrote.
Is this a four unit premise with 2 units each sharing a sewer line?
So Units A & B share sewer line #1, and Units C & D share sewer line #2? because thats how YOU wrote it in your first post.
What did you miss?
It's a 4 unit property with 2 units each sharing two sewer lines.
That is how I HAVE BEEN WRITING IT since April, when we purchased the property.
What's your next question?
Did you miss my post on how ALL are responsible for clearing the porch and sidewalk of snow? I don't care who does it. If they don't they ALL get fined.
It's in the lease the signed and agreed to, and quite normal.
Same as shared utilities.
They agree to split water bills, they agree to split sewage bills.
If one chick can't figure out how to NOT flush a tampon. Not my problem.
I'm sure I said somewhere that my lease was written by a lawyer who is also a LL in the same city. In the lease, it clearly states that you are responsible for your housemates actions or inactions. Someone breaks a railing on the porch? No one fesses up? THEY ALL GET CHARGED. It's a shared porch. Someone has a party in the backyard and lights a tree on fire that sets the detached garage roof on fire and no one fesses up? THEY ALL GET CHARGED. Someone flushes a tampon down the potty and it clogs up the sewage line and no one claims the tampons with the blue pull string? THEY ALL GET CHARGED.
If they all agreed to share the utilities, and be responsible for any damage caused by the tenants then charge them all .25% of the total bill. I bet. The guilty party ends up reimbursing the rest but that's their problem. You may also get tenants who were not responsible to move out because they don't want to pay for damage that wasn't their fault. But they signed and agreed to the lease terms.
I would send them a itemized bill with each family/lease signer portion to be paid by x date and I would also send a letter emphasizing the lease terms and they signed it.
This has never happened to me. However I would make it a huge point that next time they will have a $300-400 charge. Also I would buy and hang on the bathroom walls feminine product waste containers as a constant reminder for the bathroom users. I saw this on Ebay.
A teachable moment would be making them responsible and paying for their stupidity. I would not wave a late fee the first time why this. Do you pay for the first time when the rent is late, a window is broke, the first hole in the wall is free and so on. Your comment makes no sense.
Depends... on my own units I am more leinient and that includes the late fee once...
The aim is to cultivate a long term relationship... turn-overs cost and some of my tenants have been with me since the 80's.
I could care less what you wrote 1 year, 1 month or 1 day ago! This is what you wrote today for this topic:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sawdustmaker
(this is a 4 family that was originally built as a 2 family, so separate sewer lines).
That translates in traditional building language as a duplex that each had a sewer line that was converted to a fourplex still using that same 2 sewer lines. hence 2 units sharing 1 line with a guilty and inncocent party.
I also could care less what your attorney said becaue unless your located outside the USA, there isn't a state that will allow a repair from neglect and was not the result of the tenant being asked to forced upon an innocent tenant. You can charge them shared usages, but not damages unless its everyone sharing in the damages that they all contributed towards. You need to ask that "attorney" what is the legal difference between cost, usages, repairs and damages (might also want to see his law license).
Now, if as your changing the setup and this is actually a duplex that is rented as a duplex and thre are only TWO units each with their own line (that means the 4 family mention was just nonsense you threw in for no legitimate reason), I can see how all the persons in a single SHARED unit would be responsible.
This time, my husband took a picture of the offending objects and told the two apts who shared this sewer line "if anyone wants to fess up to causing the backup I have a picture of it, it's got a blue pull string, if not - you'll all be charged".
We thought the first time (that I did not include, because nothing was pulled out, so it's really been 4 times the sewer lines have been backed up in almost 2 months) that the remaining roots of a dead tree (seller had it cut down, did not grind the stump or deal with roots) MIGHT be the issue - with the roots breaking through the pipes.
My husband rented a snake with a blade (auger?) at the tip. The thing went right through, got hung up on nothing. No hook on it, to pull anything out, so we assume it was just one more tampon clogging everything up. Didn't charge anyone - that was their freebie. So no encroachment of roots - yet. But yes, that will be OUR problem when it is and we will fix it immediately.
I have a $2500 Spartan 300 sewer machine with 180' of cable that has really paid for itself over the years... trust me, if there is a root problem, bits of roots will be on the cable when it is retracted...
I see you now removed your snarky response to me about "leaving this to the adults." That was classy and professional.
And I stick with my agreement with Rabrrita - if your state and local laws allow you to charge a tenant for something another tenant did, and your conscience lets you, then do it.
Also, since you now made it abundantly clear that each sewer line is shared by two units, stop calling them housemates. Housemates share a unit. Tenants share a building, but live in separate units. That terminology is what confused people here.
Depends... on my own units I am more leinient and that includes the late fee once...
The aim is to cultivate a long term relationship... turn-overs cost and some of my tenants have been with me since the 80's.
Being the owner allows me to set the rules...
Agree to a point I have tenants that have been in a unit for years (the longest 18) and I will go easy on them. You have to train tenants and I would never let anything slid on a new tenant, they will take advantage of you fast. Every tenant is different and agree I am an owner and being able to make the rules is why I would never turn it over to a manger.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
