Posted by Frank Chin on February 17, 2004 at 12:33:22:
Jimmy:
Once its fixed, there’s no need to rope them off.
I have a similar set of back porch steps that needs fixing every few years. Being a rental, I’ll have someone come by this spring and replace them with cement steps.
The owner of the rental next store did it, and had no trouble for the last 20 years of the 40 years he owned the place. Before that, he had to get it fixed all the time.
Remember, many tenants will not tell you steps are rotten. You’re just as liable, and you have no way of knowing unless you do inspections frequently.
We make ourselves come by monthly to collect the rent checks, and have a look at the place at the same time.
I rented a house out and it has a back porch with two steps going up. My renter called on Thurs and said one of the steps broke and that both of the steps were rotten. (You can also get to the backyard by going around the front yard and through the fence.) I told her I would have someone come by and fix the steps. That Sunday she called and said she fell going down the steps Saturday night. She said she felt like she had a concussion and went to the emergency room and wanted my insurance to pay for her emergency room visit. After talking with her I gave her a 30 day notice and I would refund her whole deposit.
If she destroys the house can I take that out of her deposit?
She also paid a pet fee do I have to return that also since I gave her a 30 day notice?
This property is not in an LLC, but I do have insurance coverage is that good or bad?
Re: Bad Renter Advice Needed! - Posted by Long Beach Ed
Posted by Long Beach Ed on February 19, 2004 at 10:52:39:
Jimmy,
You learned a tough lesson. You made two mistakes. First, you didn’t get right over there. But the bigger mistake was renting to someone smarter than you who sees you as their road to riches. If she doesn’t have a lease, get rid of her before she cleans you out.
Now don’t make the same mastake twice. If you’re in this business for keeps screen tenants carefully to avoid leaches like this.
Re: Bad Renter Advice Needed! - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on February 17, 2004 at 11:48:58:
Jimmy:
You made a big mistake.
When the tenant called about the rotten steps, and you planned to send someone to fix it, you should’ve gone right over to check it out, and then roped the area off with “emergency yellow tape” available at the local hardware store, and taken a picture of it. I would even add a sign on the back door or porch saying “DO NOT go on the Steps”.
Because you didn’t do that, you can now file a claim, risk getting your insurance dropped, or have rates raised on you. Just to have emergency room paid will cost the insurance company several thousand dollars at the most, and they’ll settle, and raise the rates on you.
If you go to court, and claimed that the tenant broke your rotten steps, after she called you about it, you’ll be laughed out of court. And if you take it out of the deposit, she can sue you, and you’ll find no sympathy from any judge - based on what you described here.