<p>^^My hope is, if the issue is addressed in the lease, that it wouldn’t have to go to court. I hope we never have to go that route. And honestly, my husband does almost all repairs himself, so unless it was something really huge, I’d hope the 1k deposit we take would cover it. I would probably prefer to get my insurance company to cover it as opposed to trying to sue the tenant, that is, if they would.</p>
<p>I have the socrates CD now, it looks like it covers far more than our current contract.</p>
<p>If you can not supply them the abode they expected, (thru no fault of your own). So in consolation don’t charge them rent till the problem is fixed. No power, no water, etc. while repairs are underway. Uninhabitable. When they move out, change the locks and return their deposit. Seen it done.</p>
<p>I just wanted to say that since the place will be newly spruced up it would be a great time to raise the rent and the best way to do that is with new tenants.</p>
<p>It’s too late now, because you already did a fair thing by offering to pay for their hotel, but I had wondered if the tenants were neglectful in any way that made the damage worse. Is it something they ignored or failed to mitigate by mopping, calling an emergency plumber, shutting off the main water supply? If they could have stopped the damage at a point where the place was not inhabitable then you shouldn’t have paid much towards the hotel at all. I did see your follow up about the boiler, so maybe the tenants couldn’t have done anything, but I do agree with the poster who said to put in the lease that tenant has obligation to mitigate damages that may occur. (like clean up leaked water rather than let it sit and mold.)</p>
<p>It is possible that they let it wait a few days (and that could have caused additional damage), but I think that would have been just not noticing, not purposeful negligence. Can’t prove that, and don’t even want to bring that possibility up. Certainly if mold had started to appear then that evidence should have been there earlier, but I don’t really want to even point the finger on that one. </p>
<p>And yes, we are refunding their rent for the days that it is inhabitable. Even if we didn’t provide them money for a hotel, we still would be required to do that. I think. If not legally, then morally. They will get their deposit back, unless they have caused major damage. I know they won’t.</p>
<p>We took a look at the condo, and it looks far better than I thought it would. Less damage than I thought, and the contractor is busting his butt to get it done quickly. I’m really impressed.</p>
<p>But we just got an email from the tenant about the additional charge to their electrical bill for running the dehumidifiers (I think there were 2 running for 3 days). We’ll ask the contractor, but I doubt it will run more than an additional $5-$10 to the bill. Ugh. So I guess we’ll send them the difference, but the way they asked just sounded petty. And to think, we were going to give them a couple additional days of rent back, plus a restaurant certificate and some wine. So pretty much, we’ll give them their $5-$10 in electricity, but forego the $200 extras. I think people don’t always realize that it pays to not be petty.</p>
<p>When we run our dehumidifier, pretty much full time in the summer, it adds about $30 to our electric bill. I think even your $5 is generous but I agree, they are being petty. Good thing they are moving out or you will be getting emails like that from them all the time.</p>
<p>Your insurance should/could reimburse you for any additional utilities if you can provide copies of water bill or electricity surcharges during the damages and repair.</p>
<p>I will ask them about that, xiggi. Hopefully it’s not a different deal because it’s a rental condo, but worth asking the question.</p>
<p>It’s kind of interesting, because I think we are getting emails from both the husband and wife. The husband is friendly and grateful. The wife is tough and more businesslike. I have found it is helpful to analyze people you are dealing with, and what works the best for them. Friendly and grateful will get you everywhere with us, tough and businesslike turns us off. We just want to get along, have everyone be happy, win-win, do what we can to help. Demanding and annoyed does not work well with us.</p>
<p>If it were me, I would have to say something like “well, we will reimburse you for the extra electric costs if you want but since you asked for that we won’t give you the wine, diner gift card, etc. that we were going to give you” :D. Just be prepared for them to not pay any of the utility bills for their last month at all. DO NOT refund their security deposit until you confirm that all bills were paid IN FULL.</p>
<p>These tenants, through no fault of their own, have been displaced for a week. They had to pack up all belongings and move and will then have to repackage to move back in. Why is anyone surprised they are trying to mitigate their expenses? </p>
<p>In general renting with large, professional landlords is inconvenient. Renting with people who feel it is not their problem the home you are paying them for is uninhabitable would be ludicrous. It doesn’t surprise me that in that kind of situation it is hard to get good tenants.</p>
<p>I will confirm that, stevema, definitely. I suspect they will pay their bills, though.</p>
<p>I don’t think we were surprised that they are trying to mitigate their expenses, UCD. We told them we’d pay for a hotel, but were ourselves surprised when they wanted to book one of the top 100 luxury hotels in the world. Had they not done that, all would have been fine. I know it’s inconvenient to put your stuff in a suitcase and live in a hotel for a week (welcome to my life, I can pack that puppy in 2 minutes flat), but that’s what happens in life sometimes. Mechanical failures happen, things break, accidents happen. That is what our insurance is for, and that is what their insurance is for.</p>
<p>Oh, I agree your offer to pay for a hotel room that matches the luxury of the home they are missing sounds fair. I’m just surprised by some of the responses on here that feel other than refunding their rent, a land lord has no other obligations. </p>
<p>The landlord broke his end of the bargain, to provide habitable quarters for an uninterrupted lease term. Though the leak might mot be the landlord’s fault, as owners, it is certainly their responsibility. I don’t think it’s out of the question for the leasees to be compensated for that.</p>
<p>For instance, in the apartment I am renting the renters are required to have rental insurance with a certain deductible, However, it is also spelled out on the lease if there is a loss that is not caused by the renter or acts of god then the landlord is on the hook for the deductible. </p>
<p>It sounds like the owner can go after the sellers, or whoever installed the faulty equipment to make up for their loss.</p>
<p>According to most standard lease contracts, there are no other obligations. Moreover, even if the situation like this is not spelled out in the contract, the courts will probably only obligate the landlord to refund the rent.
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<p>They are being compensated - their rent is being refunded. The offer to pay for the hotel went far and beyond OP’s responsibilities in this case. I would not do it. This is what rental insurance is for.</p>
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<p>OP’s insurance company will most like go after the equipment manufacturer.</p>
<p>“Oh, I agree your offer to pay for a hotel room that matches the luxury of the home they are missing sounds fair. I’m just surprised by some of the responses on here that feel other than refunding their rent, a land lord has no other obligations.”</p>
<p>And we do have a standard lease. It sounds like your lease is something different. Our lease (and the law) only requires that for major issues, we address them promptly, which we did. It is not considered breaking our end of the bargain, as you say, because they do not have inhabitable quarters. The opinion of one insurance agent who came over was that they were habitable quarters. We personally would have never left in this situation. I can wear a jacket indoors without heat in mild weather, and I can take hot showers at the gym (or suffer through cold ones). It is much more minor than I thought. But I wouldn’t ask everyone to do what we would.</p>
<p>From everything that I have read, agents and contractors I have talked to…our only contractual or legal obligation is to get the problem attended to quickly. I’m not even sure that we are required to refund their rent. I think, though, the $40/day rent reimbursement, $80/day hotel, some dollars for electricity useage, is fair. I’m sure that people would like to be compensated for their pain and suffering of having to live out of a suitcase, eat out, additional gas charges, etc. But this isn’t a hotel where you get the suite upgrade and dining coupons if there’s something wrong with your room, their renter’s policy is supposed to cover this, and anything we give them is purely being considerate (especially since it really is liveable, except for one room).</p>
<p>Seeing as we are letting them out of their lease nine months early too, I think we are being more than fair.</p>