January 2002 Owners Update
Landlord Obligations In Winter
You always have them—specific responsibilities toward
your tenants and your occupied rental properties under the
laws of most states. These are responsibilities having to
do with habitability. But they take on a special significance
and importance in the winter months. Other times of the year
the items we will discuss below can be an annoyance to tenants
if they aren’t working properly or are broken; during
the winter they can be positively life threatening in some
parts of the country.
Effective Waterproofing and Weather Protection
You need to keep the building weather tight. That means that
if there are roof leaks, holes in exterior walls, broken windows
or some other situation that allows the weather to come inside
your tenants’ dwelling units, it is your responsibility
to get it repaired, or at least covered temporarily so that
the weather stays out.
“But my tenant did the damage!” is the usual response.
It doesn’t matter. Go ahead and make the repairs. After
all, you aren’t going to expose your investment property
to the weather, are you? Keep a close accounting of how much
it costs, and send a bill to your tenant. If he or she doesn’t
pay, you have a couple of options:
- Take the cost out of their security deposit
- Evict them for damaging the unit (and then take it out
of their security deposit)
Keep in mind that many states have a limit on the time you
can hold a specific charge over a tenant’s head for deduction
from a security deposit. It may be one year, two years or
even five years, you’ll have to check your state law
or an attorney to find out. So you’ll want to get your
money, or at lease establish a claim for it before that time
period is up.
Adequate Heating Facilities in Good Working Order
The “good working order” part is the easiest. If
the furnace breaks, you have to get it fixed. In most states
there is a specific time period in which you must at least
start the repairs, often that is 24 hours. If you can’t
get it fixed during that period of time, the law may require
that you pay for your tenants to stay in a motel. “Adequate
heating facilities” is more difficult to come up with
a specific answer for. What happens if you get complaints
from your tenants that the “can’t ever get warm”?
Then they threaten to deduct things from the rent because
they are cold.
FHA financing requirements state that the heating system
must be “adequate to heat all [finished] rooms to 70
degrees Fahrenheit” three feet above the floor. That
is certainly reasonable. Some units are drafty and feel colder
than the temperature would indicate. If you were so inclined,
you could certainly make them more weather tight, but following
FHA appraisal guidelines would certainly be an adequate standard.
Electrical Equipment in Good Working Order
This can be a big concern during the winter. During cold
weather space heaters may get plugged in and left on when
people are gone. Making sure that your electrical system is
in good working order can be extremely important for preventing
fires. If you aren’t sure that it’s adequate, best
call in an electrician.
Working Smoke Alarm
Every state requires that these be in good working order
when tenants move in. After that, some require that the tenants
change the batteries, some states require that they be hard-wired,
still other states require that the landlord make sure they
work.
Even if your tenants are supposed to make sure the batteries
are good, are you going to trust them to leave batteries in
and then tell the truth after the fire? No matter what the
requirement where your property is or what kind of smoke alarms
you have, it behooves you to test them sometime before the
cold really sets in.
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