Sometimes it's tough being a nice person. Seriously, it can be a load on a person's soul. Since acting as a landlord for my dad-in-law's house this last year, twice, my "nice" has gotten me into trouble. We nice people mean well. Heck, that's why we're nice. In my case, our tenants (three young women) had some problems come up and needed our help. "Niceness" to the rescue!
First Issue? Washing Machine.
It had gotten stuck in the middle of a cycle. Waiting for Mr. Sears to show up, he discovered that a dryer sheet had inadvertently made it's way over the inside basin, got caught in the motor, causing it to basically stop working. When Ms. Tenant asked if they would have to pay for the repair, I first told them probably not and not to worry. <LOUD BUZZER RINGS. WRONG ANSWER!> Mr. Sears informed me that the problem was not cause by normal wear and tear (How could it have? Washer was less than a year old!) but rather, by that little tiny dryer sheet. Ms. Tenant reluctantly writes a check for the repair.
Second issue? Plumbing.
About a month ago, they call with a big clog problem, so I call Mr. Plumber. Everyone should be so lucky to have my plumber, as he came the same day I called and immediately snaked the entire plumbing throughout the house. When finished with the yucky job, he calls me and says there was way too much food and that whoever is renting the house, they need to understand that not everything should go down a garbage disposal. And when using a garbage disposal, don't forget to run a lot of water too. Oh, and nothing should ever make its way down a toilet other than regular toilet paper. (And we had just had a new main serwer installed about 4 years ago) So again, after the fact, Ms. Tenant asks if they owe us anything and naturally, I tell her, no, it's no problem, just remember to not put so much food in disposal, blah, blah, blah. <WRONG AGAIN!> Besides, she was stressing out in the middle of trying to find a third roommate (the first two or the original three tenants would be leaving by Mar. 1st), time was ticking away, and I didn't want to add to her stress by having her pay for a plumbing issue! But you see, there's this thing called a Rental Agreement. Yeah, I remember signing that. I mean, I'm a Realtor for heaven's sakes. Gotta know my contracts, right? Yes, well, there's a very crucial line under #11 A in the California Lease Agreement which states:
"Tenant shall be charged for repair of drain blockages or stoppages, unless caused by defective plumbing parts or tree roots invading sewer lines."
I knew this before answering her. I reacted before thinking. As you can imagine, Ms. Tenant hasn't been too happy with me. First I tell her not to worry, then turn around and tell her, "Hey! You know how I told you that you probably wouldn't have to pick up the tab? Well, I'm too accommodating and don't think before I speak. That, and I really like you and want you to like me too!!" Good grief. Twice I make the same mistake. Think I get it by now?? Fortunately, pragmatic tendencies wreak throughout my partner/hubby. This is an example of thinking before reacting, when he wrote:
"Please keep in mind Ms. Tenant, that when you all originally moved in on March 1, 2008, the plumbing was in good order, and all routine and even unexpected repairs and maintenance necessary to keep it that way (including whatever repairs are required to fix the bathroom faucet this coming Saturday) were performed and paid for by us as your landlords, per the terms of the agreement. An example of normal wear & tear was the replacement of both the washer & dryer as they had reached the end of their useful life, and not as a result of any neglect and/or abuse by you guys, versus the subsequent and more recent washer repair which the Sears technician found was due to negligence.
So in fairness to all of you, and to us, we double-checked today with our plumber Brian XX, to get his professional opinion as to which he thought it was: (abuse/neglect or just normal wear & tear) in this case. What he recalled when we spoke with him today, was that it was what he called an 'over-use' drain clog, meaning: too much food going down the kitchen sink, without enough water running down along with it. So in his opinion, it was something that could have been avoided, and therefore, not ordinary wear & tear."
He is the Shakespeare of practicality. My hero. My practical teacher. And guess what? He's nice too.
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