Tenants And Utilities
Thinking back on the last few maintenance issues I’ve had with rental properties, I’ve come to the conclusion that most tenants are clueless about electrical panels and utilities in general.
Here’s a synopsis of the last three maintenance calls I’ve fielded:
First, I got a call a couple of months ago from a tenant who reported that their heating system had failed and they were freezing in the 60°F weather. I asked them if they had checked the breaker panel for tripped breakers and they had not. After resetting the breaker for the heating element in their A/C unit, all was well.
Next, I got a call from a tenant who had plugged no less than three 1500 watt space heaters into the same circuit on the panel. Well, you can guess what happened. I asked her if she had checked the breakers and she said that she did but had with no luck. It took a trip over there so I could personally reset all the breakers and magically, everything worked again. Now, I assure you that I am not magic and neither is this rocket science.
The last call was from a tenant who decided that there was nothing wrong when they heard water constantly running through the pipes even though they were not using any of the faucets or toilets. It turns out that there was a large leak underneath the slab of the house and for three days, they were replenishing the Florida aquifer with city water they were paying for.
In my opinion, landlords should be allowed to administer a competency test before renting a house to a tenant. None of this is that difficult to wrap your head around. Duh!
