Arrrrggg - maintenance

I have a house which is tenanted by a young family. I receive regular maintenance requests. If the request is for something I am liable for such as plumbing issues etc, no problem. However, often the maintenance request is due to a breakage- the oven door handle, the dishwasher door, the handle on the wood stove, toilet seat, shower screen has come of the rails, the washing line broke and the list goes on. When I have asked the agent to find out how the items broke she usually says something along the lines of the issue being related to wear and tear etc. I have paid for repairs for these things. In an inspection report that was sent to me by the agent I noticed from a photo (wasn't mentioned in the text of the report) that a window was broken. I asked the agent to find out about this and request that the tenant have it repaired. The agent has come back to me saying that the tenant does not know how it got broken, and as he didn't break it he is not liable to have it repaired. Is there anything I can do here?

 

General rule is that a tenant is only responsible for damage caused intentionally or negligently. Otherwise its probably maintenance and a landlord's responsibility.

If you don't believe a tenant's account, you'll need to have some of your own evidence to show otherwise if you want some basis to contest it.

 

Depends on the house - older run down houses are going to have more things going wrong with them.

If you cant prove that its caused by them itll end up being just landlord maintenance expense. Otherwise as others above said find new tenants who'll be better with the property.

Get to know certain tenants though - i have some that raise lots of things and some that have never raised a single thing.

Have reduced instance of ongoing repair requests in 2 ways - not taking on houses that'll be prone to such an issue and secondly learnt to get a vibe of that type tenant at home opens.

 

Sounds like it's time for new tenants and a new PM. Imagine a PM that actually tries to get the tenants to fix things they break instead of trying to just push it back on you?

 

Except what else is a PM supposed to do when the tenants say they had nothing to do with causing the damage and there is not really any evidence to contest it?

 

How does a window break otherwise? Something like a crack from movement or a window falling out is different from a smashed window. They don't break themselves. Remember, balance of probability.

 

In my experience, windows break for all sorts of reasons not caused by the negligence of a tenant. Balance of probabilities still requires a burden of proof from a claimant landlord.

Even with an arguable case it would be crazy to push it to court/tribunal on just that.

 

Kick the tenants out.

Give the PM the flick as well.

 

I wouldn't be pushing it to tribunal but I would be hoping my PM goes further than he doesn't know how it broke so too sad!

 

Yep. Ive had a glass sliding door and a glass oven door both break for no reason in my own house.

By all means pin the charge on tenants if they did it and definitely try to find out - but hard to prove that they did and tribunal will side with tenants generally .

Have a well maintained house and get decent tenants and most of these issues are prevented though. Prevention better than cure and all that

 

As a Pm, we often request a report from our trade to try and determine cause. We then use that to request tenants pay. Even with reports though, VCAT can rule in favour of the tenant. It's not easy being the PM in the middle, but they should try and determine at least.

 

Change agency.
But 100% **** the tenant off.

Too many tenants like this in my life.

Yea the window broke by itself

 

You will be so happy ita worth the re letting fee.

I bet. You would find an agency that would even do it at a discount to bring you on board.

 

There's only one way to deal with this. Just fix it...And then increase the rent by significant amount.

Fix whatever they want but make it back with rent increases. I usually increase the rent straight after fixing something so they know damage equals rent increases.

 

hmmm, feels like doggy tenants with a reactive (inactive) PM, maybe time to move away from both.

I had my fair share of both, it costs a lot in the long run, maybe it a good time to cut the loss and move to a better PM and find better tenants, it costs money in the short term, but it saves lots of hassle and save you $ in the long run.

 

In the past I’ve done the same. Some tenants need training. It works or they leave either way the problem is solved.

 

At what point can you do this though? Doesn't it have to be when the lease is nearing its end?

 

Yes that's right. I believe you can only increase once every 6 months too. I don't usually increase the rent every time it comes up for review but instead save it for "tenant training". I find this really works and all my tenants learn very quickly.

I'm happy to say, I never get issues like this anymore. I also make sure my agent does thorough 6 monthly inspections to pick up any problems that actually need attention.

 

A lot of the advise here is to move PM or find new tenants. However is this that simple? What if the new tenants turn out to be similar, or the new PM has a similar attitude to maintenance i.e. its always the landlord's responsibility.