Who Is Responsible For Tenant Mis-Use Repairs
Brittany's comment: Tenant misuse of a rather expensive kitchen faucet. There is proof that the tenant cause some damage which seems the maybe the child pulled on the sprayer when they shouldn't have. Who would that be a tenant expense or a landlord expense?
I mean, that would be a tenant expense. Anytime a tenant causes some kind of misuse, and particularly if you can prove that. So if the tenant texts you, emails you and puts it in writing in any way that they feel that they somehow cause this, to a lesser degree, certainly that would be proof and you would have a leg to stand on when you actually required the tenant to pay that. I would just have them pay that before they pay their rent.
So if you have some type of electronic way of the tenants paying the rent, you could probably go in there and put that in as a charge and just define it as a charge that has to be paid before the rent gets paid.
So if the tenant puts it in writing, absolutely, you have your proof, it's right there. Otherwise, if you have a contractor come out, particularly if it's a specialist, so having a handyman come out and putting it on their invoice that it was misuse that actually caused the damage, that would be helpful. Even better it would be if a plumber came out and actually said this is consistent with misuse, then that would actually be a leg to stand on the charge the tenant.
Definitely if the tenant misuse item and you feel that it's easy to prove that, and obviously the tenant's going to contest it in some way, you need to have some way of proving it. In conclusion, whenever a tenant misuses a faucet, misuses anything on a property, that would tend to be a tenant. Good luck!!!
