If something catastrophic (ie. flood from heavy rains) happens at one of your rental houses and this catastrophe makes the house unlivable until major repairs can be done,...what does your lease say in regards to what responsibility you have towards your tenants? Does your lease obligate you to pay for motel lodging until repairs can be made,..which could be months?

I am dealing with a catastrophe now and it is not a flood either.

Thanks Homer and Plenty -

Roy,

1. That if said premises are rendered untenable, by physical damage by any cause, without the fault or neglect of either party, and it cannot be repaired within sixty(60) days, this lease shall be void from the date of such untenantability, and sad possession shall immediately be surrendered and the rent shall be a portion and paid to that date or refunded as the case may be.

Dave,

What do you do when your tenants can't afford to move out on a short 24-48 hour notice? Do you allow them to live there at their own risk or do you evict them which could take another 30 days!

Roy, I did have a house struck by lightning that caused a major fire and the tenant was able to get housing assistance from Red Cross. Red Cross put the tenant and her family in a hotel. When Joplin got hit in the 2011 by a tornado tenants that had insurance immediately received a check for all their belongings and a check for housing.

If I was in a tight spot with a tenant unable to move in 24-48 hour time period I would find a cheap hotel($250) and offer to pay a weeks worth of stay and give them an accounting of their deposit and have them sign a document agreeing they are vacating the property because of uninhabitable condition.

If they didn’t take that offer I would use the courts and evict them.

Here's one for temporary issues:

Tenant's Insurance; Release and Indemnity Provisions: The Tenant shall be solely responsible for insuring any of their personal property located or stored upon the Premises upon the risks of damage, destruction, or loss resulting from theft, fire, storm and all other hazards and casualties. Regardless of whether the Tenant secures such insurance, the Landlord and their agents shall not be liable for any damage to, or destruction or loss of, any of the Tenant's personal property located or stored upon the Premises; or hotel rooms or other reimbursements in case of temporary habitability issues, regardless of the cause or causes of such damage, destruction, or loss. Tenant agrees to release and indemnify the Landlord and their agents from and against liability for injury to the person of the Tenant or to any members of their household or guests resulting from any cause whatsoever except only such personal injury caused by the negligent or intentional acts of the Landlord or their agents.

There's also this:

Eminent Domain and Casualties: The Landlord shall have the option to terminate this lease if the Premises, or any part thereof, are condemned or sold in lieu of condemnation, or damaged by fire or other casualty, such as hurricane or flood.

Dave,

Back in 2011, I remember talking to you at the convention about the Joplin tornado which is why I am glad to hear from you.

Last night, a tenant called and said the floor inside the master bedroom had collapsed. This morning my handyman and I went there and yes, the hardwood floor and everything underneath it had dropped down about 8 inches. We managed to get the tenant bed and furniture out of that room and told her the floor was on the verge on collapsing further down into the crawlspace just another 12 inches downward. Then my handyman went inside the crawlspace and noticed several floor joists (3'x 10"x 12 feet long) had broken causing this collapse. Why these original floor joist broke is still a mystery.

Is this a SFH?

3" floor joist?

Is there any rot or bug damage?

1. A landlord is not allowed to insure tenants possessions under insurance law, in California and many other States. Otherwise if a tenant had valuables, a landlord would burn their rental to the ground and collect on the tenants losses.

My lease calls for tenants to obtain renters insurance as a part of the lease. They agree to this.

2. If a tenant can not stay in the rental, due to a catastrophe, flood, fire, water damage and/or earthquake, then the tenant WILL NOT BE CHARGED FOR THEIR PRORATED PORTION OF THE RENT DURING THE TIME THEY CAN NOT LIVE THERE.

I had a fire caused by a tenant. their rent was $1200 per month, or $40 per day. So when they were faced with not having a place to stay, I contacted a local motel, 3 blocks away, and secured lodging for all of my tenants, costing me $50 per day. My tenant spit in my face and rented a room at a 4 Star Hotel for $129 per night. I refused to pay that and agreed to deduct $40 per day from their rent.

Yes, this is SFH built on a concrete block foundation. These floor joist are 3 inches thick, 10 inches wide x 12 feet long. They are placed 24 inches on center. Those are the true dimensions of this old style building lumber.

Last January, at another property, a 50 year old 6 inch thick concrete front porch slab (with rusted re-bar inside) collapsed and fell down into the 3 ft. crawlspace below. What happen yesterday is not my first rodeo with old things collapsing on me. Sometimes I wonder what will happen next?

I would put her out immediately. There is no way I'd accept liability for something else going wrong, even if you don't think it will. Get her stuff within a very limited specific time frame and go. She should have renter's insurance. If she doesn't that's on her.

I agree with get them out now - even if you need to do as Ken said.

Marcia,

When this house was built back in the 30's or 40's, building codes did not exist back then. Building codes are more of a modern invention that have evolved over time. Even today, building codes are not engraved in stone,...they can change from one area to the next.

Nicole- 99% of the tenants here will not buy renters insurance for 1 reason,...they do not possess anything worth insuring. Plus, insurance is for people who are concerned about what may or could happen in the future. Most of my tenants are only concerned about what may happen in the present.

Ken,

My lease says that if the building becomes unlivable and we cannot repair to habitable standard within 15 days, the lease terminates: they go their way, I go mine. No fuss, no foul.

It also states that we are never, under any circumstances (and 'Any' means ANY) liable to provide alternative housing arrangements.

So no...there would be no hotel in this or any (and I mean ANY) other situation, however caused.

I agree with others that this floor collapse is weird. Regardless of code/no code, there's no way it "just happened". There were cracking noises that were ignored. Someone was jumping up and down on the bed. SOMETHING happened, and it wasn't that the tenant's were just peacefully walking across what appeared to be a solid floor and "POOF", it fell into the crawl space. Nope. Not buying that story for a minute. Wood makes NOISE when it starts to weaken and crack under stress. Boards do not "just snap" with zero warning whatsoever.

To be clear: I'm not saying the tenants caused this. But they sure as heck noticed something was "off" and said nothing.

Time to put on your detective shoes.

Sid,

Had a fire gut a duplex in the hood. S8 leases on both units. Tenant had a Madonna candle set up that got away from her ... FD verified the candles torched the place.

S8 stopped payment on the uninhabitable units. Insurance kicked in to pay rent. Red Cross provided a stipend of cash for temporary housing and food directly to the tenants.

tryan,

Roy, I feel your pain. Currently I am working on the same type of project with joist and sub floor. Mine was caused by a previous Hvac company that ran the condensation line between the walls in the hallway and let it drip on the ground under the house. Tacking moisture from inside the house and displacing under the house. It's been Pandoras box. This house is a late 60's Ranch house.

Dave,

Roy,

The fires never bothered me ... no one got hurt and the house was rebuilt, modernized, and the price appreciated beyond the beyond after the work.