Just got home from the rooming house. There was a stove fire today. It didn't cause a lot of damage other than ruining the stove and some ceiling paint. A new idiot tenant who I rented to caused it. (I rented to this couple against my better judgement). By the time I got there, the street was filled with police and fire trucks. The entire block was blocked off and all tenants were evacuated from the building. The whole block was out. It was crazy and an overwhelming response and totally out of proportion to the problem.

These same tenants were responsible for setting off false alarms two times previously and had been there less than a month. Today, they were cooking with grease on an electric stove. The fire chief thought they overheated the grease and that's what got out of control. I terminated those tenants today (they had been the source of other problems).

I'll call it into my insurance tomorrow. My rates are high enough as it is. Hopefully they won't spike any further. But worst than that is another code inspection. I had a code inspection I just completed a year ago and now they want to do another top to bottom inspection. They claim it's to help me, but these are punitive and a way for the city to hit you with a bunch of junk fees. This particular municipality is a PITA about this and my concern is being over the occupancy limit. (I'm over by 1 person). I didn't build any extra rooms, but did rent the area that was my former office. I also put in a laundromat without permits, so I'll probably get dinged on that. I'll may need to do some changes prior to the inspection to reduce occupancy which means a vacancy on top of the one I'm going to have with the tenant who started the fire.

While it wasn't a good day, I'm very thankful it wasn't far worst. I should have never rented to this tenant. They were out of control and immature from day one with stupid stuff. My deductible is $ 1000 so whatever rent they paid is going right back out to cover that. They were there less than a month. From the looks of it, I have the stove to replace, wall repair, a kitchen cabinet and some painting. I don't even think that comes up to $ 1000. I'm not sure if that's even worth claiming.

If not over the limit I wouldn't claim it. I consider insurance for catastrophic replacement.

I'd move those folks out tomorrow - pay for a motel for a week.

Pull out the laundry.

A used stove will cost me $ 200. All the damages are less than $ 1000. The ceiling has smoke damage and can probably just be repainted. Damages are probably no more than $ 1000 and probably less.

Those tenants will be out tomorrow at 6. They paid a week's rent in advance and I'll refund that and keep their SD which is around $ 450. They can take the rent refund and figure out what they're going to do.

The other tenants have no standing to claim anything. Nothing of theirs was damaged.

I lived in a couple of extended stay hotels for computer contract jobs in other cities for a few months at a time (years ago). It seemed like the same type of people living there that you are describing and there was no stove in the rooms at these places and people still lived there long term.

I would think a stove is a plus, even to warm a frozen pizza. Which saves the tenant money over buying one from the pizza palace. Even college dorms have a kitchen down the hall with a stove. Maybe you need to make it more fireproof, SS back splash and over the ceiling? Maybe toughen some rules for frying with large amount of grease and/or unattended cooking. A lot of fires are started with frying.

I would not submit to my insurance, I too only want insurance for catastrophic losses, like half the building burned down. Even as seasoned LL we learn something everyday... One of the biggest - trust your gut feeling.

#1 why call insurance company? Do the repairs and move on if it is just replace stove and paint? On the ceiling I would make sure to use a good primer/sealer before repainting to help with the smoke damage.

I don’t see a reason to involve insurance at the moment.

I would look at wrapping with stainless steel, and also install these over the stove fire stop devices.

Yay for the security camera footage. Sounds like it came in handy.

When we were in the dorms, I think the most we could have in our individual rooms was an electric ramen noodle cooker. Everything else, there was a kitchen on each floor, with a stove and a fridge and a microwave. Hot plates were banned. Most of us were on the meal plan, but the cafeterias were closed Sunday night--- so we had the choice of either going out to eat, or (for those of us on a budget) getting those little frozen pot pies/frozen pizzas/frozen burritos/pot-o-ramen/whatever. Pretty much no actual cooking went on.

The worst part of this thing is the fishing expedition. My new six unit is in the same town and I'm dealing with code remediation and change of use there, so I can not afford to antagonize the city. I'm going to have to play along. That means dealing with whatever I need to deal with at the rooming house. The code guy was trying to nic pick stuff last night. First thing I'm going to deal with is bringing the occupancy down, so that means another vacancy for now.

Couldn't imagine turning in any claim for less than $5000.

Also could not imagine ever supplying a stove in a rooming house. Me, I'd have a centrally located kitchenette outfitted like a workplace break room. Fridge, two three microwaves, and a sink. Cleaned weekly. Provide outlets in each room to handle small fridge and microwave. Tenants can buy an inexpensive pizza oven for their room, also their own microwave, fridge, so they don't have to use the community ones.

As for standing up to the code inspector... you have to make your judgement on that day with that inspector. I have always talked nice with them... ask them where the code is, how it reads. You are trying to get the knowledge to do it right, ask if doing xx will also meet the code if they are requiring yy. Feign ignorance at times. My contractor didn't get a permit for that??

GKARL,

Do NOT contact ins co!

My agent tells me that every time I CALL and ASK it goes on my record, whether I file a claim or not.

The CALL goes on the house's file too so later when I go to sell the new ins agency will see "fire".

My friend's ins was cancelled because he called to ask

-radio stolen from car, covered?

-leather jacket stolen at college, covered?

-real house fire. Coverage cancelled and he had to pay super high rates for coverage for the next few years from a company that insures "high risk" people.

To me a stove fire is a simple clean up. Swap out the stove, wash down the soot, prime with Zinsser SMOKE SEALER, and paint.

Consider spraying the inside of the cabinets too because hey will hold odor.

GKARL, thank you for taking the time to share your rooming house experiences. I read them with great interest and am storing your practices in the back of my mind as a potential area to expand our business at some point in the future.

As usual the support and the advice here is spot on. I'm going to implement a few changes. The main one will be hiring one of the tenants for on site management to assist me in ensuring tenant adherence to rules and alerting me to problematic behavior. I assign him some cleaning duties and have him show vacancies. I'll retain the authority to vet applicants and mete out sanctions. I have one particular tenant in mind for this and we'll discuss today. He occupies my 9x10 room. I'll move him into the larger room that I'm evicting the tenants from today. It's a more expensive room that I'll give him at a discount in exchange for the assigned duties. This is the guy awaiting a hip replacement who's getting 1900 in SSI monthly. I'm going to meet with him later today.

I'm not sure how these guys are set up. I've been dealing with one particular inspector for both of the properties I have in this town and he's cool. The guy last night was nic picking at the gutter, trash on the street that wasn't related to my place and trying to say that a tenant's stuff in a closet made it appear that someone was living in there. (She wasn't. She just had her stuff stored in a hallway closet because she doesn't have one in her room). This is the sort of crap that I have to deal with. There is one guy who's a complete idiot, so I hope I don't draw him. I can deal with the guy who was there last night, so hopefully he'll be back. Here's the thing though---I just went through this in March of last year to get my C of O and they normally schedule it every four years. Nothing material has changed from last year to now, so how is it that you approved something last year that's a problem now. Another example, the doors on the kitchen have some sort of padding on them that the fire chief claims are flammable. The inspector didn't have an issue with the same doors a year ago. Basically, they were looking for "problems". To a certain extent, I understand that, but some of the stuff was like looking for a piece of lint on an otherwise nice suit of clothes.

I'm not sure how these guys are set up. I've been dealing with one particular inspector for both of the properties I have in this town and he's cool. The guy last night was nic picking at the gutter, trash on the street that wasn't related to my place and trying to say that a tenant's stuff in a closet made it appear that someone was living in there. (She wasn't. She just had her stuff stored in a hallway closet because she doesn't have one in her room). This is the sort of crap that I have to deal with. There is one guy who's a complete idiot, so I hope I don't draw him. I can deal with the guy who was there last night, so hopefully he'll be back. Here's the thing though---I just went through this in March of last year to get my C of O and they normally schedule it every four years. Nothing material has changed from last year to now, so how is it that you approved something last year that's a problem now. Another example, the doors on the kitchen have some sort of padding on them that the fire chief claims are flammable. The inspector didn't have an issue with the same doors a year ago. Basically, they were looking for "problems". To a certain extent, I understand that, but some of the stuff was like looking for a piece of lint on an otherwise nice suit of clothes.

GKARL,

No discounts to helpers. Regular rent, then write him a check AFTER he earns a check.

The proper rent will show on the lease for when he stops helping or when you fire him. And a discount does not get any work out of people or they start to feel entitled.(stealing)

NEVER entangle the relationships. Ask me how I know!

This rule comes right after NEVER rent to family or friends.

Brad:

So an inspection now means the clock starts again and you won't be due another inspection for 4 years?

I remember when you were talking about adding the extra room from the commercial space. If they realize what you did, they will hammer you ... make it storage or something before they come back.