Rental agreement

I am finally in the process of renting my property…yeah :beer…but (there is always a but) on the contract that I have, I have the following clause:

“Tenant is responsible for all plumbing repairs including faucets, leaks, stopped up pipes, frozen pipes, water damage, and bathroom caulking” I wanted to have this clause to protect my self from my tenant calling my at weird hour to fix stuff. My tenant has 2 boys between the ages of 1 and 3 years old, so they can always put toys on the toilet or sink and create plumbing problems.

My prospective tenant doesn’t agree to this caluse and he wants me to add the following note “unless negligence is evident by tenant”

Once again…I need advice… :help

Regards

Ha! I’ve tried that in the past.

The tenants that would agree to that, are the same ones that will saw open a hole in the wall, and do Mickey Mouse repairs and just leave a hole for you to fix, or worse… flush their feces-pee-and-toy filled toilet over and over, trying to make it flush …only to flood the entire house with pee and poop flavored water.

…all because I didn’t want to be bothered with repairs.

To be real, a 3-year old putting a rag, toy, diaper, etc. down the toilet is NOT negligence, it’s ‘renting to a family with a 3-year old.’

They may take responsibility for the clog, but frankly it’s the cost of doing business with a family with a 3-year old.

A frozen pipe? Caulking? Water damage? Really? It’s the tenant’s ‘problem’ to solve?

BTW, if I were renting again, and I was at the table signing, and the landlord tried your trick on me, I would have some fun with this, knowing that I had no intention of signing with those terms.

I would say something like, “Yeah, the last time we had a frozen pipe, there was a bunch of wall damage, but we got the pipe fixed and just covered the hole in the wall with some duct tape, and painted it. You couldn’t hardly tell there was no wall left. And I’ve got a buddy that is into plumbing and stuff. He doesn’t have a license, or anything, but he did a fine job of replacing the pipes at Grandmother’s house. You could hardly see the pipes running over the roof and down side of the house. They just blended right in with the electrical wires he stapled to the roof. He’ll treat us real good on price.”

Ok, Mr. Javipa…I now get it.

Thank you for the reply.

newbie123,
Yeah, my kids did have an enormous fascination with dropping stuff, flushing and watching!
I would spend the money and buy and install one of those toilet lid lock gadgets on the toilets. The parents will thank you. Spend a few dollars to avoid that attractive nuisance problem. Maybe the parents will pay if you do the installation.

And take that hostile verbiage out of the contract. They should only be charged if it is a toy or fault of theirs. Frozen pipes and water leaks are an owner issue. You are the one who needs to protect your investment.

Good luck and I hope those tenants stay with you for years due to the good landlord/tenant relationship.

Furnishedowner

I’ve not heard of the toilet lid locks before.
With residential real estate landlording, you can’t assign away your responsibilities. If you don’t want to be bothered by a tenant, you’ll have to get into commercial buildings with triple net leases for tenants. When renting houses, you can’t get away with making the tenant fix everything

We have a sentence in our lease stating tenants should contact us for maintenance and repair items between 8am-9pm CST. Emergency calls only after that. I’ve had idiots call me at 11pm asking if we have a house for rent. If people are that dumb to inquire about a property at that hour, I don’t want them as tenants.

You can get away with making the tenant responsible for certain repairs up to a certain amount if your local laws allow it. Our lease states we aren’t responsible for paying to fix intentional tenant damage - especially things like broken windows.

Tell the tenants to take care of the house, fix what breaks and is not due to their intentional damage, and move on or else you’ll come to be known as the slumlord who won’t fix anything (most tenants’ favorite complaint about renting houses/apts).

Thank you all for your replies and great information.

I did change the agreement and my tenant is schedule to move in on 8/14. :smile

Regards