Would you expect to pay?

[daydream**believer]

So my tenants rang me last week to ask if my electricity was on.

I said it was and they tell me that theres isnt.

They said the safety switch is off and when they try to flick it back on, it goes straight off again.

I asked if they had unplugged appliances and was told, yes, they have unplugged everything.

So, i call our electrician.

He says, due to the torrential rain we had had, there may be water damage in the roof or something similar.

He goes to the house, has a look around. Goes in the garage and sees a power board has been left plugged in, switched on and sitting in the garage doorway which is a big puddle of water.

He switches it off, goes inside, flicks the safety switch and it stays on.

He checks out in the roof just to be sure and checks the power board readings and sees nothing else that would cause the power to go out.

He says he will wait a few days to send the bill as we were expecting more big rain and if the power goes out again, then we know there is another problem.

Well, we had more rain. They had no black out and ive now got an electrician bill.

So, as a tenant, would you expect to pay this bill? It was completely their fault after all

Im taking it over to them tomorrow and i expect them to not be happy and i am ready to put them in their place if they have a whinge.

And if they winge too much, the next form they get will be to tell them get out

[flashie*]

In Tasmania tap washers are a landlords responsibility.

[izabsmiling]

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@daydream**believer wrote:

The electrician got to the the house at the same time i was getting my kids from school.

 (yes, it is the house next door)

The tenant was with the electrician when he went  in the garage and found the power board. The garage has a powerpoint about half way into it.

The power board was plugged in and sitting up against the garage roller down, outside the garage. the cord was going under the door and into the power point in the garage. Water had puddled there so the power board was partly submerged..

When the tenant saw the plugged in power board she said to the electrican "Ohhh my son must of left that plugged in when he was fixing his car out here last weekend. Hes an idiot sometimes"

After getting my kids, i then went over to the house and the electrician was just checking the circuit board thingy. He told me about the power board while the tenant was there and she again said her son was an idiot (her son is 23 years old).

She then had to go, so left me and the electrician there with her daughter in law...who is also an idiot.

The bill from the electrician states

'Check for earth leakage problem tripping safety switch. Checked in roof for water damage (no water damage).

Problem was power board left in rain by tenants son outside garage doors.'

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that sounds different to how the OP reads 

 Goes in the garage and sees a power board has been left plugged in, switched on and sitting in the garage doorway which is a big puddle of water.

If that's what happened and that's how the quote reads then I wouldn't expect that you would be expected to pay.

You change light bulbs ? lol

As a tenant I've painted homes and given barren yards gardens .

[daydream**believer]

the tenants broke a smoke detector cause it went off and they pulled all the wires out to get it to stop.

We replaced that. We mow the lawns. We do the gardening. They have never pulled one weed.

And in the last year, since the mum got a bf and stays at his house all the time, the house barely gets cleaned.

But, in saying that, the rent goes in on time every week. They dont have wild parties and the house isnt damaged.

I want them gone but the old saying "better the devil you know" keeps popping in my head

[the_hawk*]

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@*elizabeths-mum* wrote:

I just googled and found this:

Replacement of Light Globes

One debatable area can be who is responsible for the replacement of light globes. Is this a fixture and fitting of the property that must be maintained by the landlord or is the tenant responsible? It can be questioned that the tenant is responsible for the replacement of all globes, while others may come to an agreement that the tenant replaces normal light globes and the landlord replaces specialised fluorescent globes, heat lamps or globes that can be too high to replace. For example: Lighting 2 metres high or on a steep stairwell.

Given that minimum 2.4 metres is a standard ceiling height, 2 metres means that the landlord would have to replace all ceiling bulbs. 

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Any tenant that expected that would have a very quick rent increase to cover the additional maintenance

[daydream**believer]

that is from an article from 2004 elizabeths mum

[*elizabeths-mum*]

I wouldn't want a tenant stuffing around trying to change a washer and ruining the tap in the process. Just googling again, I have found that in some states it is illegal to change a washer unless you are a qualified plumber. WA is one but I don't know which others.

[daydream**believer]

just found it again in a recent Ray White newletter.

Dont even get me started on real estates as property managers

[daydream**believer]

for the record, we dont make them change washers.

*insert eye roll*

[*elizabeths-mum*]

If you mean the one I posted it was from November 2012 but it could have been reused from an earlier article.

[daydream**believer]

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@*elizabeths-mum* wrote:

I just googled and found this:

Replacement of Light Globes

One debatable area can be who is responsible for the replacement of light globes. Is this a fixture and fitting of the property that must be maintained by the landlord or is the tenant responsible? It can be questioned that the tenant is responsible for the replacement of all globes, while others may come to an agreement that the tenant replaces normal light globes and the landlord replaces specialised fluorescent globes, heat lamps or globes that can be too high to replace. For example: Lighting 2 metres high or on a steep stairwell.

Given that minimum 2.4 metres is a standard ceiling height, 2 metres means that the landlord would have to replace all ceiling bulbs. 

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 well we didnt need the ladder to change the bulb for them anyway. As they were to stupid to move their bed out from under the bulb, hubby just stood on their bed.

The ceiling is low in the room as its an addition to the house.