Refrigerator problem in rental house

[NicMM]

My tenant complains the ice maker does not make ice and leaks water from the refrigerator. I need to find someone to fix it. Is there any recommendation from fellow piggs?

Thanks,
NicMM

[Coronita]

You know. Here’s what I would try

1)Call the guy up nicely, and say look, is ok if I just send you a few ice trays?

If yes, great.. if not, proceed to #2

2)After figuring out that it will probably cost $300+ to repair the ice maker (parts plus bend over american labor, if you can’t do it yourself). Call up the guy 1 week later. Give him a choice. Tell him, if you want, you’ll give him a one time $200 credit off of his rent if he agrees to never bug you again about the ice maker and use ice trays instead.
(If it were me, I’d take the $200 and use ice trays). Make sure you get it in writing…(email/snail mail.. Absolutely no verbal agreement..)

3)If #2 doesn’t work, tell him you’re gonna replace the fridge because it’s not cost effective to fix the ice maker. But that with a new fridge, you’re not going to include an ice maker (I hope it wasn’t on a the contract explicitly saying you need to provide an ice maker)..So in this case, you’ll have a new fridge without an ice maker to deal with in the future.

Don’t forget to get a handyman to go there and turn off the water supply line to the fridge BTW…. Shouldn’t cost that much to do…. $50?

Next time, before you rent out to a new tenant. Disable the icemaker and supply line to the fridge. Make sure you’re very clear to the new tenant. No icemaker/fridge water if you physically can’t remove the icemaker from the fridge… You really don’t want to have to deal with side/uncessary nice-to-have shit… It’s just extra stuff that can break that a tenant might end up asking you to fix….In general, the less crap there is too break, the less you have to deal with it when it breaks in front of a tenant. If it wasn’t there to begin with, he/she wouldn’t be complaining that it’s not working…On one of my rentals, I removed two ceilling fans and replaced a more complicated shower head with a simple, no frills one for that reason…

[Diego Mamani]

FLU, I hope you’re kidding… The more I read your posts, the more convinced I am that landlording is not for you. If a fridge is leaking water, you do want to know about it. Water can damage your asset (house)! “Never bug me again” is not the proper strategy (unless they are bugging you about really trivial stuff).

I know, elsewhere you wrote “no problem, I just dock their security deposit.” Water damage, and many other kinds of damage can be costlier than a 2-month rent deposit. More generally, as a landlord, you shouldn’t be fostering an antagonistic relationship with your tenants, especially as long as they pay rent on time and are not complete pigs. One should never befriend a tenant, but that doesn’t mean he’s your adversary.

I do agree with your points about having a simpler fridge; however, if the house is in a nicer neighborhood, it’ll be hard to rent if you don’t have a relatively new fridge with ice maker and water dispenser.

A solution for some landlords is to exclude a fridge from the house, but offer to rent one out to the tenant for, say, $40 a month. If the tenant doesn’t buy his own fridge, then you can buy one cheap from Craigslist. If it breaks down, then just buy another used one.

[mike92104]

[quote=NicMM]My tenant complains the ice maker does not make ice and leaks water from the refrigerator. I need to find someone to fix it. Is there any recommendation from fellow piggs?

Thanks,
NicMM[/quote]

There’s not much to an ice maker. Just based on what you described, I would suspect a leak between the solenoid valve (part at the bottom of the fridge that the water supply plugs into and the ice maker itself. It’s also very possible that the solenoid valve itself is leaking.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/electrical-plumbing/1276061

The valves aren’t very expensive.

For example:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=ice+maker+solenoid+valve&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFA_enUS484US484&prmd=imvnsfd&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1050&bih=610&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12557767956770927828&sa=X&ei=N4dBUOIpppSIAo-5gPgD&ved=0CGkQ8wIwAA

[spdrun]

Is this an ice-maker on the door, or in a top-mounted freezer? If it’s the latter, the freezer defrost drain could be clogged, making it appear that the icemaker is leaking into the fridge, when really it’s condensate from the defrost coils. BTDT.

[paramount]

This is a good discussion.

I provide my tenant a refrig as a convience/courtesy; if it breaks it’s soley my discretion if I want to replace it – otherwise it’s on the tenant.

My tenant finally left for good today, I decided to pull up the carpet and determined the entire house needs to be re-carpeted (cat/dog urine stains).

Of course he (tenant) is denying any damage from his pets and blaming me.

He stated he spoke with an attorney who told him that I would have to prove a pet never was in the house prior to the tenants occupancy.

How do I prove I never has an animal in the house (which is the case)? (sorry for the thread hi jack)

[Coronita]

[quote=paramount]This is a good discussion.

I provide my tenant a refrig as a convience/courtesy; if it breaks it’s soley my discretion if I want to replace it – otherwise it’s on the tenant.

My tenant finally left for good today, I decided to pull up the carpet and determined the entire house needs to be re-carpeted (cat/dog urine stains).

Of course he (tenant) is denying any damage from his pets and blaming me.

He stated he spoke with an attorney who told him that I would have to prove a pet never was in the house prior to the tenants occupancy.

How do I prove I never has an animal in the house (which is the case)? (sorry for the thread hi jack)[/quote]

Didn’t you have a pre-inspection checklist? Prior to moving in, I took pictures of the my home and posted them to picasa…Showing the tenant the pictures as movein condition and going through the pre inspection checklist.

Regarding the fridge. For a SFH, that’s what I do with the fridge, washer,dryer. The lease states appliances provided only as a courtesy…Simply because for the SFH, people do rent without those appliances as well. And in some situations, having them in the house, the next tenant doesn’t want them because they have their own.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=paramount]This is a good discussion.

I provide my tenant a refrig as a convience/courtesy; if it breaks it’s soley my discretion if I want to replace it – otherwise it’s on the tenant.

My tenant finally left for good today, I decided to pull up the carpet and determined the entire house needs to be re-carpeted (cat/dog urine stains).

Of course he (tenant) is denying any damage from his pets and blaming me.

He stated he spoke with an attorney who told him that I would have to prove a pet never was in the house prior to the tenants occupancy.

How do I prove I never has an animal in the house (which is the case)? (sorry for the thread hi jack)[/quote]

So I now manage about 70 units.

1: Re Fridge:
If the fridge is an advertised amenity, keeping it in good repair is not discretionary.
If you have a special agreement that puts that particular repair on the tenant, you might get away with this strategy but I wouldn’t bet on it holding up. Also, its pointless. The repair bills on these are cheap (pm me if you need info) and cost to rent for not having a functioning fridge is huge.

2: Re Carpet:
Carpet has a useful life of 5 years. If its older than that, you will have a hard time proving any damages even with photos. If you pulled the carpet up yourself to look at the pad and subfloor, then you already incurred the cost of re-stretching yourself through your inspection. That cost responsibility is squarely on you. And that is usually the largest component of my re-carpeting costs. Do the math. If the carpet was new and the tenant usage time was only 6 months, then follow him for the replacement costs minus 10% of useful life minus some amount for the stretching.
However, in the future, get the cheap neutral stuff at Lowes and collect a larger deposit for the pet.

[Coronita]

deleted. Because just listen to UR’s advice.
I stand corrected.

And, no I wasn’t suggesting to be adversarial, though some tenants tend to be regardless of how nice you are.

[Coronita]

[quote=urbanrealtor][quote=paramount]This is a good discussion.

I provide my tenant a refrig as a convience/courtesy; if it breaks it’s soley my discretion if I want to replace it – otherwise it’s on the tenant.

My tenant finally left for good today, I decided to pull up the carpet and determined the entire house needs to be re-carpeted (cat/dog urine stains).

Of course he (tenant) is denying any damage from his pets and blaming me.

He stated he spoke with an attorney who told him that I would have to prove a pet never was in the house prior to the tenants occupancy.

How do I prove I never has an animal in the house (which is the case)? (sorry for the thread hi jack)[/quote]

So I now manage about 70 units.

1: Re Fridge:
If the fridge is an advertised amenity, keeping it in good repair is not discretionary.
If you have a special agreement that puts that particular repair on the tenant, you might get away with this strategy but I wouldn’t bet on it holding up. Also, its pointless. The repair bills on these are cheap (pm me if you need info) and cost to rent for not having a functioning fridge is huge.

2: Re Carpet:
Carpet has a useful life of 5 years. If its older than that, you will have a hard time proving any damages even with photos. If you pulled the carpet up yourself to look at the pad and subfloor, then you already incurred the cost of re-stretching yourself through your inspection. That cost responsibility is squarely on you. And that is usually the largest component of my re-carpeting costs. Do the math. If the carpet was new and the tenant usage time was only 6 months, then follow him for the replacement costs minus 10% of useful life minus some amount for the stretching.
However, in the future, get the cheap neutral stuff at Lowes and collect a larger deposit for the pet.[/quote]

Ok. Good to know..I stand corrected. You have a handy fridge repair person so I don’t have to do this locally (just in case)? PM sent.

[spdrun]

However, in the future, get the cheap neutral stuff at Lowes and collect a larger deposit for the pet.

Nah, in the future, combine Pergo, tile, and lino as needed. It’s a rental unit, not the Ritz. Tenants can bring area rugs if they wish.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=spdrun]

However, in the future, get the cheap neutral stuff at Lowes and collect a larger deposit for the pet.

Nah, in the future, combine Pergo, tile, and lino as needed. It’s a rental unit, not the Ritz. Tenants can bring area rugs if they wish.[/quote]

I do this like 10 times a year and carpet is generally a cheaper solution in my experience.

However, your experience may be different.

[Coronita]

[quote=urbanrealtor][quote=spdrun]

However, in the future, get the cheap neutral stuff at Lowes and collect a larger deposit for the pet.

Nah, in the future, combine Pergo, tile, and lino as needed. It’s a rental unit, not the Ritz. Tenants can bring area rugs if they wish.[/quote]

I do this like 10 times a year and carpet is generally a cheaper solution in my experience.

However, your experience may be different.[/quote]

Pergo/laminate is pretty durable…except with water…If you just spill splashof water on pergo and leave it unattended for a short period of time, and it gets in-between the pieces, laminate flooring will swell and bubble..

Some wood does too. But usually with wood, it will shrink back in place (more or less)… Pergo/laminate flooring doesn’t. I know, because I had a drinking water bottle accidentally drip a few drops of water a bit one day on a previous home, and it got in between the pieces, the pergo swelled up and never went back down. Maybe they are different now, but now when I had them installed before.

Tile is good option for kitchens, but generally more expensive to install. Also proned to chipping.

Think carpet is the cheapest option to go…
Perhaps, the next lease, try to avoid leasing to folks with pets?

[briansd1]

flu, tile is expensive and the grout, when it gets dirty, is super gross.

If you want low maintenance, go with vinyl planks that are imitation wood. They are also more noise dampening and are approved for installing on the upper floors of stick buildings.

Carpet is gross and unless it’s new, carpets shows really bad to prospective tenants.

[NicMM]

Both Flu and Diego Mamani have valid points. Ahh, landlording does need some careful thinking. In my case, I lived in the house before renting it out. So I just left the refrig there. If I wrote the contract differently, things could be simpler.

NicMM

[quote=Diego Mamani]FLU, I hope you’re kidding… The more I read your posts, the more convinced I am that landlording is not for you. If a fridge is leaking water, you do want to know about it. Water can damage your asset (house)! “Never bug me again” is not the proper strategy (unless they are bugging you about really trivial stuff).

I know, elsewhere you wrote “no problem, I just dock their security deposit.” Water damage, and many other kinds of damage can be costlier than a 2-month rent deposit. More generally, as a landlord, you shouldn’t be fostering an antagonistic relationship with your tenants, especially as long as they pay rent on time and are not complete pigs. One should never befriend a tenant, but that doesn’t mean he’s your adversary.

I do agree with your points about having a simpler fridge; however, if the house is in a nicer neighborhood, it’ll be hard to rent if you don’t have a relatively new fridge with ice maker and water dispenser.

A solution for some landlords is to exclude a fridge from the house, but offer to rent one out to the tenant for, say, $40 a month. If the tenant doesn’t buy his own fridge, then you can buy one cheap from Craigslist. If it breaks down, then just buy another used one.[/quote]

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