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I just paid $250 to get my cesspool pumped. Last year on another property it was pumped and snaked. It was $250.
One time a tenant did it herself without calling me and said it was $1200!!!
Put it in the lease that you will do repairs and if it is the tenants fault, they pay. That way you can be sure of the work done, that you know the repair people. You never know what kind of people tenants hire and it is your property at the end of the day.
I would say that in this instance..they did not contact you before proceeding...then they are responsible for the bill...(probably not a problem for them as the bill seems bogus anyway)...let them know, any future issues are to be presented to you, and you will hire the workers to take care of it.
Hmmm.... the tenant has an expense that is far too much money and the person doing the billing is a relative. This is a no brainer. The bill is a scam.
We do have a standard lease in place for the duration of their stay (6 months) but our lease doesn't have specific language regarding this type of maintenance.
Obviously I would love to get them out of there asap, however, with a lease in place I don't have any grounds for kicking these people out. Even if I did get an attorney to start some sort of proceedings it would take who knows how long and in the meantime I believe they could sabotage my personal belongings.
I agree, I think this was a scam and that there are potentially bigger issues at hand. I did get a deposit and hope to take the plumbing bill out of their deposit however I want that to be legal.
Would other LL's use the renter's security deposit for this bill?
Just say no, the cost should have been approved before the work was done if they short you on the rent now you can evict them for not paying. Yes take it out of the deposit for unauthorized repairs if it goes to court you will get the deference of what it should of cost you
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share their opinions. I do appreciate it. I think I'll call some local plumbers and see what they would've charged for the same service. Yes $600 to me sounds way too high.
As I see it... you're stuck with the bill this time.
I would take what ever steps necessary to insure it doesn't happen again on your dime.
Managing rentals since 1982 and I've never have had a toilet blockage that wasn't caused by abuse... flushing things not designed to by flushed.
Q-tips are my worst offenders and my rental agreements clearly state all plumbing blockages billed to tenant... except for root problems and I know where these are and have a twice yearly cleaning pre-scheduled.
The "Nice" thing about toilet blockages is the evidence is always there 99% of the time... even if it requires removing the toilet and taking it outside and flushing it with a garden hose.
Had one tenant that complained the toilet was defective... never had a single issue prior and since she had only been there a week, I pulled it to inspect...
Sure as shootin... several of her kids action figures were flushed out with the garden hose... she was quite embarrassed... her 3 year old didn't want them anymore... so he flushed them...
As I see it... you're stuck with the bill this time.
Why? Just don’t pay it they cannot deduct it from the rent if they do evict them for non payment. Let the tenant or the plumber take you to court when a judge sees they are related and the bill is 4-5 time the norm and they did not have authorization to do the work I would take those odds.
also
Get a quote from another plumber and offer them that amount only
I paid $150 to have my toilet snaked, and that was after hours, and it took two guys because they had to get on the roof and go down through the sewer exhaust pipe. I don't quite understand what they did or why they did it that way, but it was six months ago and I haven't had a problem since. It was well worth the money. But $600? Crazy.
Why? Just don’t pay it they cannot deduct it from the rent if they do evict them for non payment. Let the tenant or the plumber take you to court when a judge sees they are related and the bill is 4-5 time the norm and they did not have authorization to do the work I would take those odds.
also
Get a quote from another plumber and offer them that amount only
I would normally agree 100%... the only reason I didn't is because the owner's personal property is in the home... maybe it was rented through one of the those Home Exchange Programs commonly used by educators?
I agree the bill is outrageous and if anything, I would expect to pay the lowest rate having a family member doing the job.
It was not an emergency since there are other toilets in the home and the probability is extremely high the blockage was tenant caused... If it was a root problem, more than one toilet would have been affected... the owner will never know.
Unhappy tenants sharing your home with the owner out of the county could get real ugly fast and the owner is the one with the most to loose.
Many don't have a clue as to what repairs should cost... some of the Rooter Companies are notorious for taking advantage of these situations...
In 1995, I came home to find two Rooter trucks at my neighbors home... he walked over to see me and said the main line must be blocked because when he ran the washing machine, the waste water backed up into the basement toilet and it overflowed... they were already into him over $400 and said they would send out the camera truck in the morning for an additional $350 with the hopes of finding the problem... he was easily looking at over a $1000 with a new clean-out...
I came down with my torch and opened the cast-iron clean-out they couldn't... ran a 60' garden hose into it and cleared the line... that was 5 years ago and no problems since.
Years ago, I invested about $3000 for a used Spartan 300 Cable Rooter with and extra 100' of cable and a hand held Spatan small line unit with 35' of cable... It has paid for itself many times...
Legally the burden of proof falls on you and it sounds like you have none.
You would need to prove that the tenant caused the blockage. And since the clearing of the pipes happened some time ago, you don't know what it was that caused the blockage nor that it was the result of tenant action.
You would need to demonstrate that the tenant had some other option to avoid the loss of their deposit. But in this case, they had no option--you were AWOL and you hadn't provided any instruction on what a tenant should do if they needed repairs. And that lack of instruction included not informing them of the responsibility to comparison shop for the best price on your behalf.
And you would need to prove that in your jurisdiction, deductions from deposits can be made for the reason you assert. In most jurisdictions, deductions can only be made for actual repair costs, not for 'what could have been' costs--what the price could have been if you'd done it yourself, for example.
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