Who should be responsible for the failure? - Landlord Forum thread 360321

Who should be responsible for the failure? by ownernj on March 2, 2020 @08:16

I have a rented condo, and the tenant has been living there for 6 years long without an issue.

However, recently, the association/Agency had an inspection on co2 and fire detector, one of them was failed. Since this is 2nd time of inspection, I got fined and charged for total of $860.00

Since I am the owner, I should be taking care of it. However, the problem with the tenant is that she told me that she would replace failed devices before the 2nd inspection, but somehow they are still not working. According to her, she had somebody did it, but didn't work. She also tried to order a different brand but the order didn't arrive.

So, I would like to ask you opinion. How should I handle the bill? Should I ask the tenant to pay a portion of it?

Thanks!

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Re: Who should be responsible for the failure? by ownernj on March 2, 2020 @08:18	[ Reply ]

She didn't tell me any of her attempts in advance, or any problems. The last message I heard from her was that she was going to take care of, and replace them

Re: Who should be responsible for the failure?

Re: Who should be responsible for the failure? by Alan on April 17, 2020 @10:04	[ Reply ]

As much as i would like to say the tenant... Ultimately you are responsible that it is working, which means you should have been over there to test it and to replace it to make sure it was working before the inspection, regardless of what your tenant said. Always assume your tenants are lying to you. Once had a tenant tell me his toilet was not working and that he had taken care of it. Even gave me receipts which i reimbursed to him. Six months later, i get a call from the HOA of the condo in question stating that they had sewage leaking into the unit below mine. Turns out the tenant was too embarrassed about the way he lived to let anyone in to repair the toilet, he would use the toilet then dump water into it to try to flush it, it had over flowed many times and he would clean it up putting the waste in a bag, had several of these bags laying around the condo. They started leaking. I ended up having to pay a hazmat team to come in and clean up both my condo and the one below it, along with associated repairs. Lesson learned, never trust what a tenant tells you, do regular inspections to make sure the rental is in good condition.