A Landlord’s Nightmare:  How to Handle the Unexpected

Imagine slowly moving into your newly rented apartment having made all the proper arrangements to be settled in by the end of the weekend.  Then imagine you walk in Day 2 of your move-in to a caved-in ceiling and a completely soaked home.  That unfortunately is what one of our tenant’s experienced this past month.  During a tenant’s recent move-in, an upstairs toilet supply line broke pumping water in the property for 12 hours before the problem was discovered.

Then imagine you are the owner of this property who now must organize a very expensive repair while dealing with a not-so-happy tenant.  You now need to work with different contractors to get the place dried properly to ensure no mold growth and replace all the damaged drywall, carpet, and baseboards to make the property livable again.  This is in addition to working with the tenant on finding him a place to stay and calling your insurance company to get the claims covered (if you are insured).  All of these details can lead to a big headache for any owner and tenant.  We have included videos below for any do-it-yourself landlord that may need to figure how to handle this situation on their own.  But for owners who hire a property management company, this “nightmare” can be a lot less stressful.

We were able to use our relationships with trusted vendors in the area to get them all on site within an hour of the initial phone call for this flooded townhouse.  We organized vendors quickly which expedited the timeline of the project and ensured the best priced vendors were on site.  Additionally, because of our understanding of tenant-landlord law and previous experience, we were able to navigate the tricky legal complications of having a lease with a tenant who now cannot live in the property.   Clearly communicating a timeline and expectations and being willing to listen to the tenant’s concerns is important since a flooded apartment means an added inconvenience to their life as well.

Overall this project has taken about 3 weeks to complete and the final results will be released on our Facebook.  You can watch the progress of the project in our videos below.  Like us on Facebook to see the final video when it is released.

Part 1: Evaluation of Flooded Apartment
Part 2: Dry-out of Apartment
Part 3: Coming Soon! Like Us on Facebook to see it!

Below is feedback from the owner and tenant involved in this flooded property.  They both were reassured with how the situation was handled.

Tenant Feedback:
“Thank you so much for you and the owner’s understanding of my situation. Never in a million years would I think that I would have to go through something like this, but you and your company, as well as the owners, have been phenomenal in helping me out with everything.”

Owner Feedback:
“I sure am thankful to be a part of such a great team in getting this cleaned up.”