No, he won't pay for them. He is a very cheap owner and that has caused some problems for me in the past. He has 11 units with me right now. So me reimbursing the tenants for food will come out of my own pocket. The owner actually wanted one of his employees to do some research on how to get the cheapest fridge and "would get back to me in a couple of days on where I should go" I put my foot down and said I needed to get the tenants a fridge faster than that.
If any one is interested in the final resolution, I had a used fridge delivered today at 2pm, 31 hours after the tenant called me to say her current fridge wasn't working. Tenant called me Tues at 8am saying her fridge wouldn't cool. I asked her to go to the dollar store right down the road to buy a cooler and ice which I said I would reimburse her for. She refused saying she didn't have a car(you could walk to the store in 10 mins) and that she didn't have any money to buy ice. I live forty five mins from her so picking up her groceries to store in my fridge wasn't feasible.
Even if she could have walked to the store in 10 minutes, how did you expect her to get the cooler and ice home? That would be difficult to carry home, plus I'm guessing one cooler wouldn't have held all the groceries anyway. I don't think it's unreasonable that she wasn't willing to do this.
I don't think you took a horribly long amount of time to replace it, but I think you could up your sympathy for the tenants.
ETA: I just saw your last response. I don't think I would work with that landlord anymore, if you have other options.
I'm in Florida and I think having power to the unit is important because of mold. If you don't have power for just a few days, my unit gets mold.
Honestly, I feel for the OP. She's working for a cheapo landlord and is in a bad position. I also feel like the distance you are from this property isn't great either.
No, he won't pay for them. He is a very cheap owner and that has caused some problems for me in the past. He has 11 units with me right now. So me reimbursing the tenants for food will come out of my own pocket. The owner actually wanted one of his employees to do some research on how to get the cheapest fridge and "would get back to me in a couple of days on where I should go" I put my foot down and said I needed to get the tenants a fridge faster than that.
I'm so sorry. Your updates sound like the issue is with the property owner and not the tenant. It must suck to have to be the bad guy because the owner is a cheap jerk.
Even if she could have walked to the store in 10 minutes, how did you expect her to get the cooler and ice home? That would be difficult to carry home, plus I'm guessing one cooler wouldn't have held all the groceries anyway. I don't think it's unreasonable that she wasn't willing to do this.
FFS, the closest place to my house to buy ice is also about a 10 minute walk away. There is no way I could carry more than 2 small bags of ice that distance. Ice is heavy. And I'd need at least 6 bags to cool the contents of my fridge. She was hardly unreasonable here to "refuse."
You don't have a tenant problem. You have an owner problem. I am a landlord and I would be downright embarrassed to be like some of the landlords in this post.
The tenant has 6 children ranging from 10 to 21 living with her plus a boyfriend. If she really wanted to, she could have gone and gotten ice. That's 8 people to help carry ice.
OP, I would talk to your owner about how expensive it is for him to have a vacancy. Try to get him to understand that it will be cheaper for him in the long run if he spends a little money to keep his tenants happy and in place. It will cost him a lot more in the long run to have unhappy tenants who never stay longer than a year.
On your end, if he continues to be cheap/difficult, I would not resign your contract with him. You do not want your property management company to get a bad reputation. Unfortunately, everything he does is going to reflect on you.
I do think this tenant had a right to be upset, but calling you 39 times sounds crazy. You are going to have your hands full with this one.
Post by orangeblossom on Feb 7, 2013 8:51:52 GMT -5
OP you were gaining some sympathy with me when you explained how you tried to get the situation fixed, while also dealing with a bad landlord.
However, that went out the door with your last post about the number of people living with her and she could go get ice if she really wanted to. She could have an army of people and it wouldn't matter. It is irrelevant and only makes you look bad, not the tenant.
Ice nor coolers are free, so maybe in addition the inability to go get ice, she may not have the money to do so. In the end however it all comes back to you and the landlord not having the fridge in working order before she moved in. Your follow-up posts are moot.
FFS, the closest place to my house to buy ice is also about a 10 minute walk away. There is no way I could carry more than 2 small bags of ice that distance. Ice is heavy. And I'd need at least 6 bags to cool the contents of my fridge. She was hardly unreasonable here to "refuse."
You don't have a tenant problem. You have an owner problem. I am a landlord and I would be downright embarrassed to be like some of the landlords in this post.
The tenant has 6 children ranging from 10 to 21 living with her plus a boyfriend. If she really wanted to, she could have gone and gotten ice. That's 8 people to help carry ice.
This is why she needed $200 worth of food and why she was calling all day long.