Breach of the terms and conditions of the lease agreement

By Pramod Choudhary

Hi Folks,

I have a rental property (single family home) few miles away from my own place of residence.  Therefore, I manage the property myself.  The property is in excellent condition – built in 1999.  A new garage door motor was installed in April 2009 and the torsion springs were replaced in March 2010 for the two-car garage door at this property.  Both the repairs were done by licensed contractors.  My current tenant took occupancy of the property in August 2010 and was therefore not aware of these repairs.  According to my tenant, the garage door broke.  Instead of informing me of the incident and the need for repair, my tenant got one of his friends, who is also a licensed garage door contractor, come in and do the repairs for $400.  Only after the repair was completed, the tenant wrote me an email informing me of the repair done and the $400 that I need to pay.  For no valid reasons, the tenant never felt the need to give me a call and seek my approval.  I was taken aback by this incident and I expressed my dissatisfaction to the tenant.  I informed him that per the terms and conditions of the lease, a tenant cannot make any repairs or changes to the property without a written aprroval from the landlord.  Nonetheless, I agreed to pay for the repair only after I have had the chance to inspect the repair and determine what exactly was done.  When I visited the property and took a look at the repair invoice, I was shocked to see that the contractor had replaced the torsion springs for a cost of $250.  These are the same springs that were installed just ten months ago .  He also replaced all the rollers which were working fine.  I called up the contractor and enquired about the repair.  When the contractor came to know that the springs were replaced just nine months ago, he indicated that they were not of the right specifications needed for this garage door.  For the roller, he said that they were noisy and he replaced them with quieter ones.  Now, regarding the other repair which may be a little technical for some folks – my apologies.  Apparently, the vertical door bracket that connects the door arm to the chain broke off.  This is the bracket that is connected to the top door panel and is used to pull the door up or down the tracks.  The contractor put a wooden block where the vertical door bracket was and put a non-standard metal plate on it to connect the door arm to the metal plate.  The reason I say that the metal plate is non-standard is because in order to make the door arm function properly, the contractor had to cut open the top horizontal strut.  The horizontal struts hold the door panels together.  I was not at all satisfied with the repair and I expressed my dissatisfaction to the tenant.  The tenant became very defensive about himself and about his contractor friend and lost control over his behavior.  He started screaming and yelling at me on top of his lungs right in front of his wife and children.  His wife signaled me to leave to avoid any unpleasant incident.  I stayed calm and left the property. 

The main point is that the tenant has indicated that he will deduct $400 from the March rent which has not yet been deposited.  Per the terms of the lease, I know I am not obligated to pay for a repair that was done without my knowledge and without my written approval.  Even though unnecessary repairs have been done and in an unprofessional manner, I was willing to bear the cost provided the tenant’s contractor friend completed the repair to my satisfaction.  Since the tenant has behaved in a very uncivilized manner, I do not want him to get away with sticking a $400 bill to me.  I want him to bear the consequences of his actions.  What are my options?  I do not want to evict him right away considering he has small children.  However, I do want him to pay for this repair and also be put on notice for eviction if he failed to abide by the terms of the lease. How can I make him pay without incurring any legal expenses?

By the way, this tenant has been in this property for six months.  He has paid his rent every month but never on time giving some excuse or the other. I have never imposed any late fee on him.  The dryer in this house was apparently not working properly and I promptly bought them a brand new dryer.  As a landlord, I have been very accommodating but this person does not appreciate anything. Any suggestions/guidance will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Pramod Choudhary

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