This afternoon we showed a nice home to a prospective renter. She mentioned that one of her sons is 6' 8" tall and weighs 500 pounds.

I am concerned that this weight will cause problems (toilets) and do not want to be insensitive. She must have been aware of this weight thing since she brought it up. We did not ask her today if any of her kids weighed over 400 pounds.

I would appreciate your advice. She by the way is not heavy.

I rented a cute small apartment to a thin under weight women who was legally blind. She asked for grab safety bars to be placed around the bathtub, stall shower and toilet. Not an issue, was happy to comply.

When she moved out, a fat overweight person wanted to rent the same unit. I explained and had it documented in the lease that the provided safety bars were installed to assist a women under 100 pounds, and were only rated to hold 200 pounds. The man signed the acknowledgement.

Three weeks into his tenancy he was taking a bath. After soaking for about an hour he decided to exit the bathtub. From laying in the tub he grabbed the safety bar and tried with both hand to pull himself up, putting over 450 pounds stress on the safety bar. The safety bar came off the wall. The tile, concrete backing and some wood from the stud came off. The tenant fell back into the tub of water, around a 12 inch fall back into a full tub.

He claimed he life is over. The pain, etc. Was going to sue me for plenty. He had no injury but claimed different. In time he got caught prancing around a bar playing pool and darts -- with no pain.

So there are issues with curtain conditions. But us landlords aren't suppose to discriminate based on them.

Melinda,

We had such a renter. Yes the weight was an issue.

We’re going to be seeing more as young people are getting huge by the minute.

Older home, old wood, some floor joists split. Maybe they were already cracked with age but they were now pushed down.

Fiberglass tub flexed under the excessive weight, cracked the bottom of the tub and loosened the drain connection so it leaked thru the ceiling below.

Broke the metal handrail brackets by leaning hard.

Toilet survived but was way loose, maybe a broken flange.

In eviction court she could not fit into the chairs because they all had side arms.

I am not sure how to avoid this problem. Most normal homes are not designed or built to provide for a 500 pound person.

OK things:

Old school cast iron tub

Slab floor

Add extra metal brackets into studs for the handrail. Look for some industrial style brackets.

Go into the crawl or basement and add some pillars to support the floors.

Keep an eye on the toilet flange to avoid leaks.

BRAD

PS

The 2 Minute In Home Visit might be very telling.

We do these after approval of the info on their app.

Was anything said about him having a disability?

Some overweight can be caused by a medical condition. A landlord can't tell if it is gluttony or acromegaly. The acromegaly, and other medical conditions, would be a protected condition. So proceed with caution when rejecting the overweight applicant.

We also HAVE to meet all applicants AND they have to pass our checks.

I would also lean towards it being a tester. Especially since son wasn’t there. We’ve had 2 “mother in a wheelchair” people looking at our 1st floor apartment.

A disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them.

I don't like the definition but that is how HR calls it.

Personally, I don't always like waking up in the morning for work - so I wonder if that makes me disabled?

Ray,

Many things in life have pros and cons. On the list for the pro side of in person showings and a con for lock boxes is this situation.

I've always tried to insist that all adults in a "group" come see the house in person. I've had some people balk at this. I've also had someone say "so and so can't be here because they're out of town" but then they pull up their phone and put Skype or FaceTime on with that person so I can "meet" them over their phone.

I really prefer they come in person so that they can see the unit and I can get a sense of whether they'll be difficult or not, and I'm not sure I can get that sense over an app.

@J(FL) - absolutely not too demanding. Long experience has taught me that meeting everyone at the rental is imperative. I always make it pleasant "I'd like everyone to be happy with the home, so please bring all the people who would live here to see if it's right for everybody" - or some such statement.

This has allowed me to experience the wildness of the kids, the smell of cigarettes on adults, the attitudes and interactions of those over 18.

I've only had one experience with not meeting the spouse and kids that turned out well when I rented to them. Several no-so-good experiences overrode that family, sadly. That's why I never do lockboxes, and I always have my spouse along as another set of eyes/nose/ears.

Nicole - Tell your kid to stop watering your grandchild.

@Wilma,

Thanks...that is what I think too. I had an experience years ago where I only met the wife initially, and then met the husband at move in. They got divorced a few months later and wife moved out and I was stuck with the husband, who had an attitude and didn't take good care of the unit. Ever since then I've insisted on meeting all of them although I've never had to use "attitude" to deny someone so far, there is usually a more solid reason.

@Nicole