We have a tenant complained about sewer smell and said his kid had to change cloth in school. I went to there and did not smell anything special. He said he will have his plumbing friends to check it and I agree to pay if they find and fix the problem. Then a few months passed, I saw and talked his mom in the parking lot last saturday, she did not mentioned the smell. But the mom stat to call and text me all day abou tthe smell too bad and his son needs to break the lease the get full refund.

I keep saying the tenant (her son) needs to contact me. Now the son said about the same thing as his mother.

I told him I will be there to check it tomorrow and I will have contractor there asap to check if the unit hibitable or not.

There is no basement, no sewer block for the unit.

Should we hire plumber or drain cleaner?

Pour water in all the drains. One may have gone dry and allowing smell to enter.

That is also very possible. It's a bit confusing to understand if they had this issue before and are bringing it up again.

That is also very possible. It's a bit confusing to understand if they had this issue before and are bringing it up again.

I would only pay his friend if they fixed whatever problem, not going to pay his friend tell me something wrong.

I did not smell anything special last time.

Is this what you are saying;

1. Your tenant is a man who occupies this unit with his family.

2. His mother does not live there

3. A few months ago he complained about a bad sewer smell in his unit

4. The smell was so bad that his kid had to change clothes in school not in unit

5. When he first complained you went to investigate & couldn't smell any strong sewer odor

6. When you went a few months ago you said it was OK for his friend to check it out & you would pay him if he fixed it.

7. Now a few months after his mother who does not live there is complaining about the smell being so bad that her son should be able to break lease & get a full refund.

8. Now the son said he wants to leave & get a full refund.

9. You are going there tomorrow to check things out for yourself. Then depending upon what you find you will have a plumber or a drain cleaner fix it.

Did he ever have his friend check things out a few months ago? If yes what did they find? What did they do & did you pay the friend?

When you go there I suggest that you do this:

1. Go when the tenant can be there to explain when & where he smells the odor.

2. Bring someone with you to witness what you do & to smell for the odor.

3. Shine a black light everywhere he says there is an odor especially around the toilets. In addition to the bathroom do this in every room especially where there is carpet of wood flooring. This will show if someone has been peeing on the floors or walls.

4. Pour some bleach & water into all of the drains, sinks, tubs, laundry & floor drains

5. Ask the tenant why if the sewer smell is so bad he waited a few more months before saying it was so bad he had to move.

Unless you & your witness can smell the sewer odor or see urine stains with the black light, I'm guessing that the tenant just wants to leave & is scamming you. If you do smell the sewer odor and / or the black light shows signs of urine let us know & we can get you suggestions on how to handle it.

If there is a crawlspace under the house have the plumber (or the drain cleaner guy) crawl under the house.

We had one house that periodically had this odor. Ended up having nothing to do with the actual toilet or bathtub sewer lines.

Instead the plumber (luckily a skinny fellow as this just happened to be the one house with the lowest crawl space)found that the kitchen drain pipe simply...ended halfway under the house. Like someone got tired of running the line and thought "heck; I'm calling it a day".

As a result all the dirty kitchen water simply ran out into a big hole under the house and when the dirt could no longer absorb it made a nice stinky pool. The crawlspace was so low that one could not see this pool unless you crawled right up on it.

The answer was, of course, to reconnect the pipe to the sewer line and lay down about five bags of lime to deal with the odor.

I am a little late to the party but when you go there tomorrow (today) wear a shirt or blouse or whatever that has a front pocket in it. Just before going to or in the door turn your phone on to record. Place the phone in your pocket with the camera lens facing OUTWARD so you are videoing the event. Practice this at home before going to the unit. This will give you a video and sound of what all transpires. Things that are said and things that you see and do.

The first thing you do when you get home is save this to your computer and to a thumb drive for later use.

Second. Don’t tell them anything or say or promise them much. Let them (the tenant) do most of the talking.

Maybe ask MYOB if this is legal before proceeding.

I was just there. Our regular contractor was around and there too. There is some smell in the kitchen area. We cleaned garbage disposal, seal wall hole back of lower kitchen counter, put some water in the drain pipe in the utility room near kitchen. We found the tenant have small cat in the unit. Contractor said maybe a dead mice too. It is not as bad as some other units with pet. I am going to check if the smell better tomrrow.