Hello Friends
I am landlord and renting my basement unit in the same house. We had water leak from upstairs bathroom and lot of water came which also caused some ceiling and carpet damage in the basement unit. There are 2 bedrooms of which one bedroom had ceiling damage due to water and one small portion of carpet damage and the other room just had minor ceiling damage. Both the rooms were usable.
I repaired the water damage in the basement within a weeks time however the Tenant is now asking to give half months rent as compensation for what they have gone through which i feel is not reasonable.
If there are any CD who can give some legal advise on what is the worst case scenario for me as landlord, can the tenant Sue for damages?
I would really appreciate your answers.
Quote:
Originally posted by mick37
Hello Friends
I am landlord and renting my basement unit in the same house. We had water leak from upstairs bathroom and lot of water which also caused some ceiling and carpet damage in the basement unit. There are 2 bedrooms of which one bedroom had ceiling damage due to water and one small portion of carpet damage and the other room just had minor ceiling damage. Both the rooms were usable.
I repaired the water damage in the basement within a weeks time however the Tenant is now asking to give half months rent as compensation for what they have gone through which i feel is not reasonable.
If there are any CD who can give some legal advise on what is the worst case scenario for me as landlord, can the tenant Sue for damages?
I would really appreciate your answers.
Lots of things possible .... but my sincere advise is ...talk, negotiate, convince and if necessry give credit to the tenant from the rent. YES ... your tenant can sue you for damages and if your tenant has criminal mind, she / he can claim from you. You don't want to get into those things.
2 personal experiences, in combination is related to the topic.
1. There was a major leak in my washroom on main floor, water went down to basement and spoiled the laminate floor as well one full wall. I have not rented my basement , its a bar and party room down below. I contacted my insurance company , the guy came and estimated the damages , I got enough from insurance company to repair and even get the new flooring in whole basement plus painting which I did , sent invoice and photos to company to settle the claim. Looks better now, a blessing in disguise. The insurance premium did not increase much. Did you avail this chance ?
2. In my rental property (different place , different incident) , I had to do some renovations (add a washroom) prior to start of lease. But till start of lease washroom was not ready and construction work continued for next 10 days while Tenants were already there. I volunteered to take only 50% of the rent for the 10 days. Every thing went fine.
I will suggest , if you got the work done within a weeks time as you claim, offer to waive off the rent for only a week or 50% . Do not deny completely, you must offer something ( should have done volunteerly) to avoid conflict. Own the responsibility.
and please do not seek legal advise from nobody , you do not want to go that route.
Thanks friends for your writeups
I did offer them $200 however they are asking half months rent which is $450. Is there any CD friend who can touch on some legal aspects on if tenant can get more money if they take me to court?
Increase it to $300? plus a (meal on the house?) 12 pack, delivered. See if he will bite into it. Tell him that is your last offer. Also get a receipt for that particular month with the reduced amount, as it will be a small loss in your income.
Six of one and Half a dozen of the other. (You lose some and gain some.)
Good Luck.
FH.
It is very painful to go to the courts here in Canada. It is not worth it. (Does he pay rent on time?
If not, you have an upper hand.)
Location: Brampton, Ont, Canada
Posted on: 18-01-16 11:33:15
My advice , don't take tenant lightly - they got lot of power.
Even if you settle for half the rent then do it - and try to work on replacing this tenant ( i'm sure you can work out something - don't do it now but with patience and time.)
Sometime it's better not to be greedy or egoistic ....
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'Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail.' (Param Vir Chakra awardee Lt. Manoj Pandey)
FH, the tenants pay the rent on time and no issues there so far. I will try the approach of increasing the amount however i don't want to give them an impression of being weak as they could fabricate any incident in future and will think of claiming similar amount.
BP, I know Tenants got lot of power but they can't be unreasonable and i am sure legally courts will understand that too and they will not give any blink judgements. Not that i am very keen to go to courts if tenants Sue me.
Does anyone know if being a landlord i can get some free legal advise from somewhere.
