If a landlord has to call a plumber instead of fixing it himself, that's his own problem/embarrassment.
With what we pay in rent, I have no embarrassment about having our maintenance people fix minor problems. Gotta get my money's worth!
Yeah my issue as a landlord is that I live 2 hours away and don't have a handyman or a property management company, so its kind of a PITA for me to go up there. Plus I'm cheap and I already lose like $500+ a month on this rental which I'm salty about - which obvoiusly is not the tenant's fault. Again, I think my personal interaction with this tenant is coloring this request in that I am extra annoyed because she complains about everything.
I asked her to try some dran-o, and if that doesn't resolve it, I will send a plumber over to snake the drain.
I agree with your plan. We live in an apt complex that has handymen and we always try draino first. 9 times out of 10 that fixes it, we've only had to call the handman once for a clogged drain in 2.5 years.
Ditto what others have said, as a tenant, I would first use draino and/or removing the drain part to dig hair out of the drain. If that didn't work, then I would contact the landlord.
I have long hair, so my shower drain tends to plug up every few months or so. I consider that my problem, not the landlord's.
Also, my dad told me drano is really bad for your plumbing. I don't know why and some people argue with me. Tbh, I used it when I rented but so far refuse to use it in our house. Better off trying a zip it or getting some sort of snake for plumbing.
It is. It can corrode the pipes. My friend's sister used it regularly and found a hole in her ceiling one day due to leaking pipes.
I agree - it's bad for both the pipes and the environment.
Even though I guess I technically think it's the LL's responsibility to keep the drains clear (obviously excepting tenant negligence), when I rented this was such a simple thing to fix that I would never have bothered the LL about it. Fostering good will will get you a lot further (and I always got 100% of my deposit back from every rental I had, so I think it paid off).
For me, 99% of the time it's just hair that I can pull out easily by just removing the cover.
Yeah, it's a hard call. As a tenant, I would try draino or a snake and not call the LL unless I thought a professional actually needed to be called in. But on the other hand, I've heard of tenants who want LLs to replace burned out lightbulbs and whatnot for them. If you're local, I would check it out first. A slow-drain could be a draino issue or something else. You never know.
If a landlord has to call a plumber instead of fixing it himself, that's his own problem/embarrassment.
With what we pay in rent, I have no embarrassment about having our maintenance people fix minor problems. Gotta get my money's worth!
Yeah my issue as a landlord is that I live 2 hours away and don't have a handyman or a property management company, so its kind of a PITA for me to go up there. Plus I'm cheap and I already lose like $500+ a month on this rental which I'm salty about - which obvoiusly is not the tenant's fault. Again, I think my personal interaction with this tenant is coloring this request in that I am extra annoyed because she complains about everything.
I asked her to try some dran-o, and if that doesn't resolve it, I will send a plumber over to snake the drain.
And that's EXACTLY why I only ask the LL for things I really can't fix myself.
I used to live in a duplex - for 4.5 years. The guy who lived next door to us? The LL wanted him out so bad. There were cops there a lot, he kept the place filthy, he let his dog poop on our porch (and left it in the shared front yard all the time), and he was probably dealing drugs. He also lived there for about 10 years, so his rent was low. When he had a friend move in, the LL renegotiated the lease, but not up to market value. Every year, he had his rent raised by the legal limit in our city (based on inflation). We NEVER had our rent raised in 4.5 years because we took care of a lot, including power washing the exterior and clipping the hedges, even though we didn't really have to.
Eh, I have to use a Zip It on our shower drain every six months. It's my hair. I'd be so embarrassed if my landlord called a plumber for something so simple.
A Zip It is pretty cheap, like $6 cheap.
If a landlord has to call a plumber instead of fixing it himself, that's his own problem/embarrassment.
With what we pay in rent, I have no embarrassment about having our maintenance people fix minor problems. Gotta get my money's worth!
But you have dedicated maintenance people, right? I'd feel a bit different about the issue if I lived in a multi-unit building with dedicated maintenance people that were always on call.
Haven't read all the replies, but as a LL if a tenant used drain-O without okaying it through me first I'd be pretty pissed
Have you told them they are explicitly not supposed to use Drain-O? Because there are plenty of people here asking "well why didn't they use Drain-O before bothering you?"....
I'd be embarrassed to ask a LL to come get hair out of my drain so I'd try that. I hate doing it for my hair enough as it is But beyond that, LL's responsibility for sure.
Also, my dad told me drano is really bad for your plumbing. I don't know why and some people argue with me. Tbh, I used it when I rented but so far refuse to use it in our house. Better off trying a zip it or getting some sort of snake for plumbing.
My plumber told me this also. He said use bleach or vinegar and baking soda.