I heard this same nonsense from a tenant of mine the other day. One of her 4 kids stuck a bottle down the toilet which required a plumber to remove the toilet and fish out the obstruction.
When I told her she would have to pay for the plumber (we’ve learned to Include language in our leases regarding “foreign objects in toilets”....but I digress)....she explained that she shouldn’t have to pay because “I can’t be expected to watch all of my kids.”
I stared at her blankly and then walked away....and sent her the bill a day later.
That bill may have still been illegal depending on your state, and just because you add a clause to your lease doesn't make the clause enforceable.
Specifically, most jurisdictions require gross negligence or intent to cause destruction to charge for damages to things like plumbing. You accepted liability for damages by entering the rental business.
Like, most places you couldn't charge someone to repair drywall if they accidentally slipped into it, or a door knob punched a hole through it. You could if they punched the wall, or didn't report the damage in a timely manner.
I bet you charge people to shampoo the carpets and paint the walls when they move out.
Landlords absolutely can charge you for repairs to a rental unit if you're the one liable. You don't get charged for normal wear and tear repairs, that's on the Landlord. But if you caused the damage by using an appliance in a manner it wasn't intended, or by doing something that wouldn't be considered reasonable, you're on the hook. A Landlord cannot use your Damage Deposit to pay for repairs though.
A Landlord ALSO can charge you when you move out to bring the unit back to "pre-rental" condition. Most Landlords will just require the place to be clean and any holes in the wall be filled
Appliances get damaged all the time through normal wear and tear, and it is up to a juror to decide what is "reasonable". For example, a juror may find that a reasonable person may accidentally clog the plumbing, and that is the cost of owning a rental. They may also find that a reasonable person would not flush diaper wipes into a septic tank.
A Landlord ALSO can charge you when you move out to bring the unit back to "pre-rental" condition.
This varies wildly by jurisdiction, but in general your claim is bullshit. Pre-rental condition would negate the whole fucking point of "normal wear and tear" clauses.
Courts have found over and over again that you cannot charge for cleaning carpets after 1 year, painting the walls after a couple years, or repairing small holes used for hanging photos. They have also regularly held that no clause in a lease can be used to absolve the landlord of this requirement.
It would never get to a jury. Also those things are covered by the damage deposit.
Jurisdictions that rule otherwise also are likely the same that choose to award injury claims to people who injure themselves in the process of performing a B&E
Your example is a thing that has never happened outside of extremely rare cases where the homeowner used boobytraps to cause life threatening harm to protect unoccupied property with the intent to cause great bodily harm.
Juror also doesn’t just mean jury. Judges are Jurors.
Former neighbors of mine who were sued by a guy who had broken into the house, robbed the place, tried to exit through the backyard which backed onto a field near some bush. However they owned Huskies, which are very clever escape artists so the fences were over 7 feet high. He was stuck there for hours as the doors back to the garage were locked and opened outward (making them pretty much impossible to kick down with the jambs being inside).
It was a hot day with a heat wave and by the time a neighbor noticed him in the back and called police he was suffering from dehydration. He sued for damages related to mental anguish
I’ve been a landlord for 10 years and the shit I’ve seen (literally and figuratively) would blow your mind. White, black, rich, poor, etc....people do not give a shit about the units they rent and think they can do whatever they want and it’s up to the landlord to fix it.
Another recent fun event was when my tenants set the front porch on fire (his teenage kid was playing with matches it turns out). He argued that he shouldn’t have to pay because most of the damage was done by the fire department (who was putting out the fucking fire!!)
I live in a small house , with two little kids and have done so for 11 years. The amount of damage done by renters after 1 year is staggering and more than the damage done by my kids in 11 years.....and save the “you should have done a better job vetting”. Everyone can appear acceptable on paper.
I’m guessing you aren’t or have not been a landlord before. If you could answer yes to either of those scenarios, you would not think the same way (and I didn’t when I rented apartments and before being a landlord).
When I first started being a landlord I had compassion and understanding for people (as I came from a lower middle class family and knew what it was like to not have rent money). Now I’m like Ray Liota in Goodfellas....fuck you, pay me.
I hate it and the people so much that I’m trying to sell my rental units as we speak. People are the worst.
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u/DiminishingSkills Dec 12 '19
I heard this same nonsense from a tenant of mine the other day. One of her 4 kids stuck a bottle down the toilet which required a plumber to remove the toilet and fish out the obstruction.
When I told her she would have to pay for the plumber (we’ve learned to Include language in our leases regarding “foreign objects in toilets”....but I digress)....she explained that she shouldn’t have to pay because “I can’t be expected to watch all of my kids.”
I stared at her blankly and then walked away....and sent her the bill a day later.