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*]

I discuss with my most of my tenants before I call in any tradesmen that if the fault is found to be theirs then the bill will be issued in their name for them to pay.............for me I find this works best.

I also ask that maintenance requests be put in writing...........(emergency stuff is different of course)

[izabsmiling]

From the OP :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

if there was another blackout the fact that ' the powerboard was on the floor' wouldn't be such an issue ?

The puddle on the floor of the garage of your rental property was due to very heavy rain ..the garage isn't usually wet ?

where do most people keep their powerboards ? 

[the_hawk*]

---

@izabsmiling wrote:

From the OP :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

if there was another blackout the fact that ' the powerboard was on the floor' wouldn't be such an issue ?

The puddle on the floor of the garage of your rental property was due to very heavy rain ..the garage isn't usually wet ?

where do most people keep their powerboards ? 

---

what part of this didnt you read

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

So, i call our electrician.

[izabsmiling]

I get that Hawk, I also understand that it's quite possible some people don't think of things outside the house.I have the feeling that these tenants wouldn't call their Landlord/lady unless they really felt they had no other choice.

What I can also see here is that rain/water is a factor (? Act of God) ,the electrician himself felt that it could have been another problem with all the recent heavy rain and quite frankly even if my tenants had reported problems (which seemed OK now)  to me and said that they believe it could be due to water getting into the garage and onto a powerboard ..I as a Landlady would much prefer to pay to have that checked than have someone suffer from my lack of doing so.

Either way Landlady or tenant I would expect to pay .I just don't get the mentality that doesn't acknowledge that there are times when things aren't black and white or right or wrong.

[*pepe]

---

@izabsmiling wrote:

From the OP :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

if there was another blackout the fact that ' the powerboard was on the floor' wouldn't be such an issue ?

The puddle on the floor of the garage of your rental property was due to very heavy rain ..the garage isn't usually wet ?

where do most people keep their powerboards ? 

---

that is totally irrelevant as it is NOT a landlord's responsibility to hold a tenant's hand and make sure they practice common sense.

no matter how hard you try you just can't turn this into being a landlord at fault.

it's 100% on the tenant

[the_hawk*]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

Either way Landlady or tenant I would expect to pay .I just don't get the mentality that doesn't acknowledge that there are times when things aren't black and white or right or wrong.

---

If the tennant left an electrical item on the floor and it got wet and didnt think to unplug every thing after being told to do so I dont see a grey area of fault.

Who caused the problem?

who didnt do as instructed?

who should pay the bill?

[the_hawk*]

---

edit is useful 

[*pepe]

DDB you might want to pop around when they are showering and make sure the water isn't too hot, or make sure they have an umbrella when it rains. 

[the_hawk*]

and tell them not to use the hair dryer while showering

[daydream**believer]

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.'