On any given weekend, you get a phone call from a tenant and they are in a panic due to sewage backing up in their bath tub. To make matters somewhat worse, these are new tenants who just moved in and are using the plumbing for the first time.

First of all, do you consider this an Emergency in which you need to drop whatever weekend plans you had made and go and deal with your tenants drain problem? If you own a plumbing snake, are you going to drop your plans to go fishing and so that you can snake a tenant's drain?

And if you call your regular plumber and he is booked all day Saturday and can't snake the drain,....what do you do next?

Do you consider this a real Emergency which needs your immediate attention or can it just wait till Monday ?

Definitely consider sewage an emergency BUT I also consider it an "expert needed" kind of thing. I would be very concerned, but I would tell them I am calling a septic company to deal with it.

DH says it is a "three star emergency" in his book. He would go dig to the top of the septic tank and crack it open at the very least, until we could get a septic guy over there.

If this is a BRAND NEW tenant after a fresh move in, I consider this a bad turnover on your part. Sorry.

You should have a list that gets checked off at each turnover and that should include filling all the tubs and sinks and letting them drain, flushing toilets, etc.

Use the same list every turnover and add to it as you need to in order to make it more complete.

I print one off and can give it to whoever is helping me at the time (sometimes me) and it's gets done 1 item at a time.

If this was a brand new tenant, I would bend over backwards to make this right asap and I'd be embarrassed.

WMH,

I agree with WMH, it is an emergency to have sewage backing up in a tub. Maybe not a drop everything immediately and get there in the next 5 minutes, but certainly a call the plumber, septic person and get them out there asap. Now if they are busy and you are next in line which might be the next day, that is what it is. Like trying to get a HVAC person when the temps are below zero for a week, you do the best you can.

Linda j (NY)

I agree with you in principle that it needs immediate attention. However, remember this is a weekend where all plumber's who advertise 24/7 service have fees that can be double or triple their normal weekday rates.

Every property has a clean out plug. If they didn't when we purchased the house we put one in. Go over and pop it off until plumber can get there.

Roy to answer your last post--WHAT EVER IT TOOK.

"So, my new question here is this: If a normal weekday snake job cost $75.00-$100.00,...just how much more are YOU willing to pay to get this drain snaked now vs. just waiting till Monday? Would you pay $300.00 ?"

I would not be concerned about paying weekend or evening rates . It will average out in the long run

What would you expect our land lord to do if you found raw sewage in your bath tub?

This kind of stuff happens... Gotta be prepared for it. I have three plumbers saved in my phone who do not charge increased rates for weekends, only for nights. Find those folks in advance so that next time you can address the issue without paying the price spike.

For this time you pay the price to get it done.

Myob,

My new tenants had just hooked-up their washer/dryer in the laundry room which is in the rear of the house adjacent to the 2nd bathroom which has a stall shower only. When the tenant's washing machine was draining is when they first noticed sewage backing up in the stall shower which is 20 ft away. The sewer clean-out port is near the middle of the house where the master bath is. Does this answer your question?

The BIGGEST part of this emergency is the fact that a landlord with well over a dozen units even thought to ask a landlord forum if this is a freakin’ emergency!!!

I would like to know how many LL's would pay $300.00 to have this drain snaked on Saturday vs. $100.00 on Monday?

Roy, you left off the real qualifier to your question,

Busy (WI)

Most of the LL's that I know locally, would NOT consider this a 'life or death' emergency. Now, if it was 20 degrees below Zero and the heating system died, that would be different story.

What this post deals with is how YOU (not me) would deal with this problem or better yet, how quickly would you deal with it and how much you are willing to pay out to get the problem solved on Saturday morning vs. Monday morning.

Homer,

I check drains at turnover, so don't expect that problem with a brand new tenant.

The very first thing I do is to go over myself and take a look. Tenants can have a very strange idea of what needs to be fixed, and "sewage backing up into the shower" might only be a slow draining tub and the "sewage" is bath water.

I'm not paying an emergency call out for a slow draining bath tub. Many of the drain problems aren't serious and I can fix them myself.

But if it really is sewage, yes, I will get someone out before it backs up enough to flood the house if it is the city line that is backing up.

Roy, maybe you should be one of the guys applying for jobs at the oil change place or mold remediation company that GKarl posted. Then you could go crappie fishing instead of showing up for your interview.

You needed to go crap fishing at the tenant’s house the minute they let you know about this, and stayed on the project until it was resolved.

Your fishing buddies aren’t going to pay your bills when your tenants get sick of being treated like crap.

I agree that it is something that needs to be fixed NOW. But - don't forget to collect whatever is causing the clog. If you did verify all drains were flowing freely before move-in, this new tenant may be about to pay for whatever they flushed, that wasn't supposed to be flushed. And hopefully learn their lesson - at premium rates.

Roy: You asked and had it answered by pretty much EVERYONE here: they would consider it a pretty big emergency and they would pay what it took to get it resolved over the weekend.

And, yet, you still continue to try to push this idea that it isn't a big deal. That none of your local buddies would think so either.

WHY do you even bother to ask here if you don't really care about any of the answers given and are going to ignore it anyhow??

It's kinda sad to see this attitude from you, Roy. No matter what anyone has said in this -- with pretty much EVERY ONE OF US DISAGREEING WITH YOU -- you still keep going "but my fishing buddies want to know where I am, so I don't see why my brand new tenants can't just live with literal crap sitting in their new home all weekend!"

Come on, Roy... You're better than this -- aren't you??

I don't normally say this to the well established landlords here, but part of me thinks it may be time for you to sell too...

- John...

Go with a drain zipper tool if you forgot to have one hanging around the water heater, I also carry a 15 ft hand spin snake if the zipper is not enough. After that it is stuck in the main but your tenant already proved that is not the case - they would be charged to clean out this mess.

I agree this could be taken care of with phone calls from the boat, AND possibly prevented but doing a good assessment of plumbing at turnover. I’ve seen it mentioned many, many times on this forum that clogs in first 30 days are treated as landlord’s problem, after that depends on what is pulled from drains. Just another way it could be handled.

Here's how I handle it on weekends. If there is still a working commode and sink in the house that doesn't cause a backup into the shower it wouldn't be a drop everything emergency for me. Although, since they are brand new tenants that does raise it a bit for me since likely they din't cause it. I would see if my regular plumber could fit me in on Saturday or first thing Monday.

Roy I'm not shocked. Go fishing and leave sewer leaking in your rental. Then in 3 weeks complain because your tenant doesn't care.

Plenty, I fill up my tubs, sinks, basins at turnover, then watch to see how long they drain. Bath tub, laundry tubs, kitchen and bathroom sink. It’s a fairly good indicator, especially if they are all filled, then all drained at once.

Don’t know what the dryer has to do with it. Laundry tubs can be tested. If it’s the drain pipe where the washer drains into PVC, then I suppose one could have multiple jugs of water ready, and a garden hose hooked to the hot and cold washer taps, pour all of that in rapid succession, maybe with a helper pouring to replicate the effect of a washer draining. All of my homes have the laundry tub where the washer drains to the tub, not the PVC pipe. However, two hoses turn full on from the hot and cold washer connections should come fairly close, to my way of thinking.

John (MI)

I wish you and several others would read the Subject Title of this post,..It says "How would you handle this?" It does not say "How should I handle this?"

When I make posts here, I am not looking for you all to solve my problems. I don't need to read here that this drain clog was all my fault because I did not check every drain at turnover. Do you think the Motel 6 checks every drain when a guest checks out? No, they wait until the new guest checks in and calls the front desk.

All I wanted to know here was how another LL would have handled the same problem I had last Friday night. Nothing more, nothing less.

Sewer back-up is a good thing.

Because of sewer back into a relatively new house (about 8 years old) I was able to buy one at a tax sale. Assessed value through county assessor $92,000. My tax sale price around $3,800.00.

Roy - What is the address of that house if it goes to tax sale?

Roy: I read the title just fine. And when people told you how THEY would handle it -- you seemed to take it as an attack and started defending not doing anything because your buddies wanted you to go fishing...

But, whatever. Glad to hear that you didn't even WANT any advice on how YOU should handle it and just wanted to know if we'd go fishing or not. Yeah, ok.

- John...

So, Roy, you were just bragging about your slumlord prowess?

Mike, in Mo, looks like we could find all kinds of opportunities in Alabama.

, ‘most of the local landlords wouldn’t consider this life or death emergency’. Well, yeah, life or death CALL 911, for cripes sake! Never knew ANYTHING in landlording to be life of death. ( Or do they have landlords come out for house fires, shootings, seizures down there? ) But, assuming hyperbole was used, ( life or death, meaning drop the fishing pole or the beer glass and go have a look-see,) sounds like there is good opportunity for RESPONSIBLE landlords, who focus on customer service to protect their business.

There's an Organ Grinder here,

Roy

I do hope you realize my comment about the address of the house if it’s going to tax sale was kind of a joke.

I kind of go along with the Thumper Rule. If you can’t say sometun nice don’t speak.

OTOH, ( now this hasn’t been brought up at all, as far as I saw,) IF the tenant was being allowed to move in before the first just with first months’ + deposit+ utilities transferred, but Not with tenant paying a prorated portion of March, then, I might say, ‘Oh, good thing we caught this early. Do you still have some things at your old place so you can stay there this weekend, and I can get someone out on Monday? ‘ And then, I would give them 40 bucks for dinner, for the inconvenience of it all. If they couldn’t still stay at the old place, me, I’d get it taken care of, hell with cost.

I usually try to give the tenant a few ‘free days’ at the start of the tenancy, explaining this allows them to move carefully, no injuries, AND gives them time to get their old place very clean so they get all/ most security deposit back. I come across looking like a nice guy ( guy is gender-neutral in Wisconsin. Yes, I’m a woman.) Talking at the start of the tenancy about what to do to get security deposit back is training the tenant to think about getting full security back when they eventually leave my place. Start that training early.

Now, if the landlord requires payment for every minute of the tenancy at the front end, no ‘free days’ to help with move in, then I think the tenant has a right to expect very prompt action on any issue of habitability, without tenant needing to do a darn thing. If the days before the first of month were free, then that sets up better for mutually beneficial problem-solving, such as tenant staying at the old place for the weekend, landlord checks to make sure no broken pipe filling the house with raw sewage or sewer gasses. (Landlord wants to stop further damage to property., of course.) THEN, there would be a better position to expect some patience from tenant, though I WOULD cough up the forty bucks for dinner. Tenant is all excited to get in the new place, has the friends all lined up to help with the move, they need to know landlord appreciates their time and trouble as well.

I would consider this situation to require direct attention, before more back up occurs and OVERFLOWS.

But the tenant usually doesn't call till after 5pm on Friday! So it can be an expensive lesson at your expense if you are not capable and hire it out on the weekend. Since I have tenants sign a do not flush pamphlet, I will explain if it is determined it was something they did to cause the clog, they will get the bill.

And more than once I have worked in a unit between tenants, run all the water washing paint brushes and mops, etc... and it still backs up when a new tenant moves in. Can't win sometimes. Had a tenant take her first shower, sent me a pic of standing water in the tub I had used all week. I wound up w/ a power snake and took out a 2' solid hair clog about 25' downstream.

Small potatoes, good point: everybody uses things differently. The tub , garage door, whatever that gave the last tenant no issues at all sometimes throws a hissy-fit quickly with a new person. Sometimes a matter of training, sometimes just different use.

I am a licensed plumbing contractor, property manager and owner of many rentals.

Often for clients when a tenant moves out and I'm hired to remodel the vacant unit, I snake all plumbing drain lines. Kitchen, laundry, bathroom sinks, toilets, tubs and showers.

Many times an owner will be upset with me for my "extra's", like snaking drain lines when they aren't clogged. I explain that the kitchen lines were half clogged and the bathroom drain had hair. Had I not snaked them out when I was there anyways, they when your new tenant paying market rent calls in a panic, then a service call just to snake one drain will cost you more than me snaking the entire unit's drains.

What I do whenever I get a call is to call my Handyman

2nd I remind tenant that all property issue calls go to handyman 1st

All leasing calls go to me.

If he cant put eyes on the issue immediately then I will go next or find other eyes

within minutes of getting an e-mailed invoice from my handyman I turnaround and do the payment online where we both have an account at the same bank.