Tenant flooded my house, do I need to pay for her hotel room to stay in while the room is repaired?

[martincsk]

I live in California, Los Angeles county. My tenant who rents a room with bathroom in my house broke shower handle and was not able to close the water. She tried to contact me over the phone, however, exactly on that specific day I felt sick and went to bed very early, my phone silenced. However, I live in the same house, my car was in the garage and my TV in my room was on. Even though I was not answering my phone, she could have knocked on my door. She ended up calling the neighbor,who came by and tried to close the main valve. However, he didn't close it completely, and there was still a trickle but not as serious as full blown shower. My other tenant later opened the main valve, took shower and closed it, again not fully, still trickling, it was very hard to close it as it was partially rusted. The first tenant, who broke the handle went to sleep, her bedroom is connected to the bathroom, she took a sleeping pill, maybe smoked weed and passed out. She claims she didn't hear the water overflowing. In the morning I went to check it, 3 rooms were flooded. I closed the shower, snaked the tub to realize it had at least a partial clog issue (the tenant never informed me about that). Her toilet was in horrible state, the flapper was so bad it could not even be attached, the only way to flush was to do it with hands. Another issue I noticed was that she put a shower cap over smoke detector which is totally against the rules and contract we have. Her room is currently being restored, she can't stay there, I offered her to stay in my master bedroom in the meantime, I put new sheets and everything and I stayed with my girlfriend away from my house. However, my tenant who I believe caused the damage wants to stay in a hotel. Am I obligated to pay for her hotel stay, or offering her to stay in my room while her room is repaired is sufficient? My home insurance has gaps ($1000 deductible and $7500 limit), and it doesn't cover hotel stay of non family member. Can I sue her for any expenses out of my pocket?

 

[Just Blue]

I live in California, Los Angeles county. My tenant who rents a room with bathroom in my house broke shower handle and was not able to close the water. She tried to contact me over the phone, however, exactly on that specific day I felt sick and went to bed very early, my phone silenced. However, I live in the same house, my car was in the garage and my TV in my room was on. Even though I was not answering my phone, she could have knocked on my door. She ended up calling the neighbor,who came by and tried to close the main valve. However, he didn't close it completely, and there was still a trickle but not as serious as full blown shower. My other tenant later opened the main valve, took shower and closed it, again not fully, still trickling, it was very hard to close it as it was partially rusted. The first tenant, who broke the handle went to sleep, her bedroom is connected to the bathroom, she took a sleeping pill, maybe smoked weed and passed out. She claims she didn't hear the water overflowing. In the morning I went to check it, 3 rooms were flooded. I closed the shower, snaked the tub to realize it had at least a partial clog issue (the tenant never informed me about that). Her toilet was in horrible state, the flapper was so bad it could not even be attached, the only way to flush was to do it with hands. Another issue I noticed was that she put a shower cap over smoke detector which is totally against the rules and contract we have. She can't stay in her room, I offered her to stay in my master bedroom, I put new sheets and everything and I stayed elsewhere. However, she wants to stay in a hotel. Am I obligated to pay for her hotel, or offering her to stay in my room while her room is repaired is sufficient? My home insurance has gaps ($1000 deductible and $7500 limit). Can I sue her for any expenses out of my pocket?

How long had the tenant lived in the room? Did you show her where turnoff valves/circuit breaker were when she first rented?

 

[martincsk]

How long had the tenant lived in the room? Did you show her where turnoff valves/circuit breaker were when she first rented?

She has lived there for almost 2 years. And yes, I showed her everything. It's all signed by her in my leasing contract.

 

[FarmerJ]

I suggest you tell this tenant in a written on real paper letter ( send one copy to her via certified mail and another handed to her personally) and in the letter tell her you will not pay for a motel or hotel room for her and if she wants one then she must pay for it herself and in the letter remind her that her failure to come to your door and beat on it until you answered since you didn't answer the phone has made the damages to the structure worse than they had to be. Keep a copy stapled to your postal receipt for your records then begin to create a bill for the damages and once the repair is complete send a copy of it to her via certified mail ( you really might want to have a post office box to use as your mailing address for this issue so that any thing sent back to you by the post office to her cant be torn up and thrown away incase she refuses to get / sign for the certified mail) what I suggest you do is in the letter explain to her that her damage deposit money has been consumed and she not only must replenish the deposit funds but owes you X amount , set a pay be date and if she doesn't pay then use the courts to get her out for breaching her lease if she wont pay for her carelessness , I get it that CA is a very tenant friendly state so perhaps you should still speak to a landlord tenant - real estate Attorney who can tell you for sure if there is any thing else to do ( besides taking a lot of pictures of the damages) . { it is not like you did something to make you responsible for her room to be unusable, it was her own _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ that made it worse.

 

[martincsk]

We are on month to month lease. I am definitely terminating the lease with her. She disabled the smoke detector. I believe that is illegal, if there was a fire i'd get $0 from my insurance if they find out the smoke detector was disabled. It's total disregard for my property and me as a person, not to mention all the other maintenance issues she never took care of or informed me about.
I just wanna make sure she doesn't have a case saying it's not her responsibility because I wasn't answering my phone and she attempted to close the main valve. The valve was old and rusted and it was very hard to close with hand, she should have used something like a crowbar to close it completely. Or, if the water was still trickling, she still could have opened other faucets to divert the pressure from her shower to multiple other places to decrease the trickle into her clogged and backed up tub. Or, worse come worse, if it really didn't occur to her to knock on my door, if nothing helped, she could have called plumbing emergency, it would be expensive, but not even close to what it is now. Instead, she went to sleep, took a sleeping pill and put headphones on her ears. It is beyond my comprehension but I still wonder if she can request a hotel stay (she already stayed there one night), I did offer her to stay in another room in the house for free, she refused.

 

[xylene]

The smoke detector is a non issue.

The real issue: you are MASSIVELY UNDERINSURED.

 

[adjusterjack]

And a damned fool for renting out parts of your own house.

 

[Just Blue]

IMO: The shower handle should not have broken off unless it was a problem(ready to break because of age/disrepair) with it to begin with. If the main water valve was so rusted that is was difficult to turn off, it seems that you need to update your plumbing. The toilet flapper it not the tenants responsibility to replace.

I seems to me that you haven't done any standard/necessary renovations to this home in a very long time (if ever) and that may be why this mishap happened.


Q. Was it a typo that you only have $7,500.00 worth of coverage of your LA county home? Aren't homes in that area worth $500k and up?

 

[FarmerJ]

older faucet handles made of what I call pot metal ( super cheap and easily corrodes ) can and do crack and there isn't a lot of warning when they fail. older plastic handles easily get cracks and break apart, main water valve yes they too corrode and or get mineral build up and since main valves are something NO ONE thinks about until there is a emergency many people never turn them off and on again just to make sure they work ( kind of like how some older cast iron radiators have super old valves that no one has turned on / off or used to reduce the amount of heat in one room or re open it to be open all the way and then they fail with age / get painted and wont work well or turn at all ) hint replace the old valve with a brass lever valve, they are a lot easier for turn offs. I omitted a word that best describes the tenants action Laziness all the tenant had to do was bring her fanny to our door and BEAT on it not just knocking but beat on it.do suggest you learn if your states landlord tenant laws have to say as to a definition of retaliation / retaliatory eviction - actions are so you know for sure that giving her a notice to vacate would not give her cause top fight by claiming retaliation by you. AND for holys sake do not forget to do a deposit disposition should you be able to give her proper notice to get out with out fear of a retaliation claim. that could be used to fight back ( I would suggest even if all the reciepts for repair are not in that you could word the deposit disposition in a way that list the current charges as well as other items listed as pending so that way say her deposit disposition is done to prevent her from suing you for not following your states damage deposit laws and when you send it to her use confirmed mail delivery or certified mail.

 

[martincsk]

IMO: The shower handle should not have broken off unless it was a problem(ready to break because of age/disrepair) with it to begin with. If the main water valve was so rusted that is was difficult to turn off, it seems that you need to update your plumbing. The toilet flapper it not the tenants responsibility to replace.

I seems to me that you haven't done any standard/necessary renovations to this home in a very long time (if ever) and that may be why this mishap happened.


Q. Was it a typo that you only have $7,500.00 worth of coverage of your LA county home? Aren't homes in that area worth $500k and up?

7500 is for water damage only. At least that's how I understood my declaration page. Obviously, if my house burns down I am getting full house replacement. House is in a very good shape, maintenance done on a regular basis. However, I had no access to this one person's room. It was her responsibility to let me know any maintenance issues. I can't replace her toilet flapper if she doesn't give me access or informs me about it. Yeah, the rust on the main shut off was an issue but not a terrible issue. It still could be closed. I closed it many times before and showed everyone how to do it. My biggest mistake was I allowed her to lock her room and and didn't do regular inspections of her room/bathroom. She was very serious about her privacy, any time I had to enter (for any reason) she got very upset. Contract clearly says she must inform me about any repairs needed, so instead of kicking her out, i said, just let me know when anything needs to be fixed. Every time I would run into her I asked her if everything was fine, she said yes. The rest of my house is in tip top condition, i've lived there many years with almost 100 renters over time, not a single one flood, issue, mold, insects, or any problems. I get professional inspector every 3 years to indicate problems to solve (the main shut off was on my list). Seeing the state of her room after 1 year almost made me cry.

 

[FarmerJ]

Even when a lease tells tenants they must report repair concerns many just don't AS far as the tenant keeping you locked out of the space I suggest you find door locks that cannot be just changed by anyone with a screwdriver after the current tenant is out and if you have to go to a locksmith to get them installed maybe that's a wise choice for you.

 

[AlmostThere]

I live in California, Los Angeles county. My tenant who rents a room with bathroom in my house broke shower handle and was not able to close the water. She tried to contact me over the phone, however, exactly on that specific day I felt sick and went to bed very early, my phone silenced. However, I live in the same house, my car was in the garage and my TV in my room was on. Even though I was not answering my phone, she could have knocked on my door. She ended up calling the neighbor,who came by and tried to close the main valve. However, he didn't close it completely, and there was still a trickle but not as serious as full blown shower. My other tenant later opened the main valve, took shower and closed it, again not fully, still trickling, it was very hard to close it as it was partially rusted. The first tenant, who broke the handle went to sleep, her bedroom is connected to the bathroom, she took a sleeping pill, maybe smoked weed and passed out. She claims she didn't hear the water overflowing. In the morning I went to check it, 3 rooms were flooded. I closed the shower, snaked the tub to realize it had at least a partial clog issue (the tenant never informed me about that). Her toilet was in horrible state, the flapper was so bad it could not even be attached, the only way to flush was to do it with hands. Another issue I noticed was that she put a shower cap over smoke detector which is totally against the rules and contract we have. Her room is currently being restored, she can't stay there, I offered her to stay in my master bedroom in the meantime, I put new sheets and everything and I stayed with my girlfriend away from my house. However, my tenant who I believe caused the damage wants to stay in a hotel. Am I obligated to pay for her hotel stay, or offering her to stay in my room while her room is repaired is sufficient? My home insurance has gaps ($1000 deductible and $7500 limit), and it doesn't cover hotel stay of non family member. Can I sue her for any expenses out of my pocket?

Did your tenant leave a message when she tried to contact you?

 

[FarmerJ]

AlmostThere since the OP / landlord was at home I don't see that it would matter if the tenant left a voice mail or not since the tenant could have gone to her landlords door and BEAT on it , not just knock but a loud BOOOM BOOOOM BOOM with a fist if there was no answer with a lighter knock. ( AND even though the landlord /OP didn't tell us , I imagine there are times that cell phone only telephone users may not take that phone with them as they move around from room to room and of course cell phone ring tones just don't wake people up the same way a much louder telephone ringer did back when most of us had more than one telephone set in our homes so again all the tenant had to do was take her fanny to the LLs door if LL didn't answer the phone