Find out what the blockage was caused by. If it was something the tenant put into the toilet that shouldn’t have, then it’s the tenant’s responsibility.
If the blockage was from something that you believe that you’re responsible for (nothing comes to mind at the moment) then you’d pay.
Hopefully, you’re lease agreement has something that spells out such a scenario, or at least the tenant’s responsiblities in a general way (“if the tenant causes damage…”).
Also, a tip from Fixer Jay Decima, always require the plumber to note what caused the blockage before paying any invoice.
Posted by sanjay gupta on March 26, 2009 at 18:36:49:
My tenant’s toilet got blocked and water damaged the unit underneath landing me a $600 bill. Who should pay for the damages? The toilet itself was fine on a check up.
My Rental Agreements define tenant neglect as including flushing anything other than human waste (i.e. no tampons, condoms, baby wipes, etc.) I also have a pre-move-in plumbing discussion. This does not prevent all plumbing problems, but when the plumber tells me what caused the clog I know whether or not I have to be reimbursed by the tenant. Sometimes we compromise, or if there is doubt I pay it the 1st time, but not the 2nd time. I once had a condom cost me $1,000 + a LOT of aggravation.
You may not resolve this incident to your satisfaction w/out absolute proof of fault, but if I was pretty darn sure it was the tenant but knew I couldn’t collect I might offer to pay half & take the other half out of the deposit. I’d make sure to get a signed agreement that the tenant knows he’s already spent part of his deposit. Sometimes tenants are willing to agree to that because they don’t have to spend money in their pockets. They probably aren’t going to be entitled to their deposit, anyway, if they’ve been typical tenants, but w/the agreement I’d feel I was able to go after any shortfall the balance of the deposit didn’t cover.
Sorry, I can’t give you legal advice, but maybe someone else here can do that–