Plumber called out to turn hot water on!

Hi all,

New to signing up to the forum and looking for some advice from the members.

I saw this morning that a plumber got called to my IP out of hours due to no hot water. Seems it was due to the hot water inlet being turned off. So turning it on and relighting boiler I'm hit with a $350 bill.

So either the tenants have turned of the hot water or a random has walked onto the property and turned it off.

Thought I'd get the options of the members, should I dispute this cost or take the hit?

Thanks

 

Was it turned on previously?

 

Hmmm. Regardless of whether you end up copping this bill, you should change the amount of money that your PM is allowed to spend without consulting you. I'd be furious at the PM for not doing basic trouble-shooting him/herself, and would have a conversation about that expectation. If something like this happens again you of course have the option of moving to a new PM.

 

Was it 3am on a Sunday morning?

Otherwise something like that should not cost more than a $99 call out fee....

Hot water tanks are a difficult matter especially if your tenants have young kids

 

I'd be disputing it for sure. I use RACV emergency home assist in Victoria for my properties, just seached and found Allianz offer a similar product that seems to be Aus Wide, might be worthwhile investigating - Emergency Home Assistance

 

Yes, charge it to the tenant.

 

$350? Hmm I thought I got ripped $231 to replace a dead thermocoupler and a couple of seals/o-rings.

 

Was your tenant given instructions on how to maintain the hot water system? I would have no idea about relighting a boiler ???
Marg

 

Do you know how to light a gas stove or BBQ?
The internet has all the answers as well

how to relight a hot water system - Google Search

 

Something doesn't sound right to me. As Simon said, unless it was a very odd hour on a Sunday or public holiday, I can't see how something as simple as turning it on would cost that much. Have you been issued the invoice from the PM yet? If so, check the detail of works done. Maybe something else was done also?

 

Tenant should be demanding a week rent free for missing a shower, nasty landlord.

I had similar when a tenant triggered a safety switch. $150 for a sparkie to flick a switch and to their credit "educate" the bewildered tenant.

 

Maybe these sorts of thing should be shown to the tenants when they move in - and put in the lease as special conditions.

I had a tenant call the electrician because the oven wasn't working. It turn out to be the tenant's daughter who was staying over and the problem was the air flap on the oven wasn't opened. I charged that back to the tenant when found out and they paid it.

 

that hurts. still not close to a story i heard of a plumber being called back in to check his previous work as apparently it was still leaking. Only to find out that the tenant just wanted the plumber to change the taps because they didn't like to colour and they bought a new one but unsure on how to install it.

to the OP, i would have a serious discussion with my PM if that happened to me.

 

Here is a description of "urgent repairs" in VIC.

Urgent repairs - Consumer Affairs Victoria

Yes, failure or breakdown of HWS is listed. However your PM should be doing basic troubleshooting and would have identified the problem over the phone. It also says "All repairs are the landlord or owner’s responsibility, but if the tenant or resident caused the damage, the landlord or owner can ask them to arrange or pay for repairs." So as @Terry_w mentioned, have the tenant pay as it does sound like they caused it.

The tenant could also be decent and agree to "manage" till Monday. Yes, we prefer warm showers, but we all have an amazing invention called a kettle and we've all at some stage or another had to endure the dreadful first-world problem of having to boil up a few kettles of water to facilitate a nice warm bath. I'm sure the tenant could have managed for a day until it was Monday. If they absolutely required a hot shower, surely they have at least one friend/relative/neighbour that could allow them to borrow their shower?

 

It seems like this became a problem because the property manager wasn't contactable after hours and the tenant therefore had no idea what to do and then called the emergency plumber. Some plumbers will diagnose the issue over the phone before coming and some will not so they can come out for the nice payment.

I've had a tenant call me on the weekend about a faulty hot water system and I was able to hold off until Monday for a repair. If the tenant wasn't able to call me then they would have got a plumber on the weekend and ended up costing much more.

But in this case you would charge the tenant by default because there was no actual fault with the hot water system.

 

I would agree with this.I once got a call on a Saturday morning,on a long weekend the toilet was blocked.Plumber attended to remove a chicken breast blocking the pipe,cooked.uncooked,digested, how it got there i have no idea .This bill was referred to the tenant.

 

It's usually printed on the front of the HWS. It's a very simple process.

 

If it wete that simple, they'd own their own house.

 

We had a similar issue, tenant complaint door knob is broken not working. PM send out a handy man, and turned out the tenant don't know how to use (lock / unlock). I did not pay call out fee.

 

We're talking about folks who call up the agent to get a blown light bulb changed....