New tenant moved in 5/22. A divorced mother with 12 y/o son. Good job and credit. Pays well so far. Last month she sent a text that she was 8 weeks pregnant and wants to move in boyfriend/FOB. I got an application from him and approved him on stipulation that he leave when she does.

I got a strange text this am about tub not draining. I go over my drain policy at lease signing and I do drain clogs for first 30 days and first occurrence, then tenant is responsible. She told me the problem was not the drain, but the shower diverter according to BF. He "worked" on it, but was unable to get tub to drain. Great. Handyman goes over and the drain is indeed clogged and we need to snake it. BF attacked the shower diverter and must have pried it's plate off with a screwdriver. The screws have been pulled through and one is busted inside wall. He pulled the diverter out, damaging surround and breaking it up and left a mangled mess on bathroom floor. Umm, what did the poor diverter ever have to do with a clog.

We are going to replace all, faucet, shower, and diverter as it is old and we have to get into wall anyway to fix his mess. The bathroom sink will need to be pulled before going through wall to fixtures.

I sent tenant the picture of her BFs destruction, told her to never attack my plumbing again, and call for maintenance. She sent back she was sorry and would pay. Right! Think I will ask her to pay half(as I will be upgrading fixtures), but the real problem remains..her BF does not have a clue and is destructive as well.

WWYD?

If not for the boyfriends bad acts, you would not have these damages.

Besides being a landlord I'm also a California Licensed Master Plumbing Contractor. Many times a client, renter or a tenant of mine will "try" to fix a plumbing issue and cause substantial damage. Now things can't simply be fixed, they need to be replaced!

One example: when you want to remove a plumbing fixture from the suppling galvanized pipe, you can not use a single wrench, you have to isolate the supply pipe and hold it in place while you try to unscrew connecting fittings. Otherwise things that are old and not if the best shape will snap off.

Or when removing old parts you may heat it up, freeze it down, use a sonic vibrator or opposing wrenches.

When I caught someone trying to play "Plumber", I get so mad because what should have been a 20 minute parts replacement job is now a 2 hours plus -- open the wall and replace the fixture and connecting pipes.

Send her the bill. She said she would pay for the destruction her boyfriend caused. Wallet training.

The only thing I would not charge for is the new faucet& shower head, if they are still working fine/not damaged by them. It's smart to do it while you are in there, but it/they weren't damaged by the tenant.

I had a tenant try to snake a toilet instead of calling me and scratched it all up. So they they painted the inside of the bowl to try to cover the damage.

This was a new toilet when she moved in six years prior. She called me, telling me what she had done, realized it was a mistake and asked for a new toilet.

I asked my plumber if he could just replace the bowl and he suggested just replacing the whole toilet because the insides would need to be rebuilt soon if not when he replaced the bowl so it was more cost effective to just replace the whole thing since it comes with all new parts.

I charged her for the cost of replacing it with the same type toilet it had (a normal height, round bowl toilet). But I offered to pay the difference for an upgraded toilet (comfort height, elongated bowl).

She was elated. I figured I got an upgraded toilet for a small upcharge and she felt she got a better toilet for the cost of a lesser one which she agreed she damaged.

LisaFL, why bother replacing the toilet? is it a big deal if the porcelain in the bowl is scratched?

I think you're handling it correctly Lana. I have a clause in my lease that tenants are not permitted to do repair work on the unit. Hopefully you have such a clause. I'd send notice that they violated that clause, and have them reaffirm they both understand the lease clause and won't do it again. It's your choice if you want to say that an additional violation of a lease clause will (I'd say "may", not "will") lead to eviction.

I had a tenant's BF try to fix a garage door opener and he fried the entire circuit board by rewiring it...a $600 repair in all...she paid for it $300 a month for 2 months.

I had another tenant where the handle for the shower valve came off. It's an easy fix, but rather than call me they attached vice grips to the splined end and operated the shower that way for 2 months...ruining the valve. Eventually they HAD to tell me about it, so they ended up paying $420 for an entire shower valve repair (had to cut through the drywall on the backside to get to it, so a drywall repair was included).

Ken (NY)

Well the tenant apparently scratched the bowl to the point of deciding it needed to be painted and apparently created a mess for herself. She wanted to have it replaced for cosmetic reasons and took full responsibility for her decision to do these things. I told her it was just cosmetic and it could wait until she moved out because I didn’t very well want her doing something stupid again after I put a new toilet in but I don’t think she will make that mistake again.

Lana ... I have the Martha Stewart / Bob Vila Clause - that's what I title it when I review the lease with tenant at signing, in short some of it reads -

NO re-painting, NO gluing stapling over hardwood floors, NO wallpapering , NO excessive nailing, NO refacing the cabinets,NO building of anything ( bar area, breakfast nook, adding to patio/decking structure ) ABSOLUTELY NO self repairs to electric, plumbing, HVAC ...nothing !

Please call ASAP to report a situation with the property.

There will be NO "self repair" NO billing back to landlord NO deduction form rental fee for any said performed work.

Partaking in any self DYI - repair - etc. will be iin violation of the lease resulting in grounds for eviction and the tenant will be charged as additional rent separate from rental security deposit funds to return the premises back to the condition to which premises was initially rented