Lease provision requires renter to pay a $100 "copay" for repair costs -- is this a thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up my first 12 years of my life in a rental. My parents lived in that rental for 16 years. In that time they had ZERO repair calls. I do recall we did ask permission to paint apt.Dad would fix a washer or loose toliet seat.

I rented an apartment 6 years as a single person once agin zero calls to landlord.

Both times with parents and me we had below market rents with small time landlords.

But as an adult I did rent from a large building owned by a corporation with a managing agent payinig full market rent and of course I would put a ticket in for repairs if I had to.

But I find some tenants want it both ways. They want to rent from a small overwelmed owner below market and then pay below market rents and then expect service like they are staying in a Marriot Hotel.

Small overwhelmed owners do not offer below market rents
I don’t know who does

Everyone I know does. Yes in day one you pay market rate. But I had a great tenant from 2013 to 2018 never raises rent. My new tenant I only raised once since 2018, this year as they got “needy” started calling in a bunch of stuff and causes me around $3,000 in repair bills. So I raised rent and told them partially to recoup cost. Since then no more calls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up my first 12 years of my life in a rental. My parents lived in that rental for 16 years. In that time they had ZERO repair calls. I do recall we did ask permission to paint apt.Dad would fix a washer or loose toliet seat.

I rented an apartment 6 years as a single person once agin zero calls to landlord.

Both times with parents and me we had below market rents with small time landlords.

But as an adult I did rent from a large building owned by a corporation with a managing agent payinig full market rent and of course I would put a ticket in for repairs if I had to.

But I find some tenants want it both ways. They want to rent from a small overwelmed owner below market and then pay below market rents and then expect service like they are staying in a Marriot Hotel.

Small overwhelmed owners do not offer below market rents
I don’t know who does

Everyone I know does. Yes in day one you pay market rate. But I had a great tenant from 2013 to 2018 never raises rent. My new tenant I only raised once since 2018, this year as they got “needy” started calling in a bunch of stuff and causes me around $3,000 in repair bills. So I raised rent and told them partially to recoup cost. Since then no more calls.

You're a jerk. Asking for you to repair YOUR property isn't needy. Just admit that you're a slum lord.

[Anonymous]

Yeah no this is BS
run away, this greedy landlord doesn't want to take care of their property. Tell him to get a job

[Anonymous]

I was recently a renter before buying again and never encountered something like this. If I had, I would have walked.

A security deposit should suffice for any reasonable landlord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. If you're curious about the specific language in the lease, here it is:

"Tenant is responsible for the first $100 co-pay towards minor maintenance repairs."

It also says, "Tenant is responsible for all repairs incurred by tenant." I take that to mean that if you call a repair service about a problem without clearing it with the landlord first, you're on the hook for the cost. My family member has no issue with that provision.

I think you need to learn more about the law in PGC.

do they define minor maintenance repairs? what does incurred by tenant mean? if three previous tenants put grease down the sink and then there is a problem how do you know its the current tenant?

[Anonymous]

I understand the concept, but this seems like it would encourage people not to call in things that need fixing and would lead to far bigger problems down the line. If I see a leak in the bathroom and you're going to charge me to get someone to fix it, then I'm way less compelled to reach out about it. Landlord loses here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would encourage tenants to handle very basic things themselves and cut down on nuisance maintenance calls but still have the onus of major issues and repairs on the landlord.

Yes. And knowing some tenants (my BIL and MIL were/are landlords), I think this is perfectly reasonable. If you don't want to pay $100 to the landlord, you can fix it yourself, and realize it might actually cost more. It helps the renter stay aware of costs, which makes them not abuse appliances as much.

Or it incentivizes the renter to ignore minor problems until they grow into major ones, which are more costly for the landlord to fix.

That's against the lease as well, you are too report major problems or be liable

Yeah, "major" problems -- but the lease talks about minor repairs. So you ignore the minor problems, and only report when they become major problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like it would encourage tenants to handle very basic things themselves and cut down on nuisance maintenance calls but still have the onus of major issues and repairs on the landlord.

Yes. And knowing some tenants (my BIL and MIL were/are landlords), I think this is perfectly reasonable. If you don't want to pay $100 to the landlord, you can fix it yourself, and realize it might actually cost more. It helps the renter stay aware of costs, which makes them not abuse appliances as much.

Or it incentivizes the renter to ignore minor problems until they grow into major ones, which are more costly for the landlord to fix.

That's against the lease as well, you are too report major problems or be liable

Yeah, "major" problems -- but the lease talks about minor repairs. So you ignore the minor problems, and only report when they become major problems.

Tenant can say they didn’t notice the small stuff (wet area under the sink, puddle of water on the side of the house, new noises).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the concept, but this seems like it would encourage people not to call in things that need fixing and would lead to far bigger problems down the line. If I see a leak in the bathroom and you're going to charge me to get someone to fix it, then I'm way less compelled to reach out about it. Landlord loses here.

This is a really good point.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Above is a good point. I think the lease term means nothing about what type of landlord they are - some are good, some are bad. Do not pass up an otherwise good living choice based on this language. You just won't know, not until you've lived it.

[Anonymous]

If this were legal every large professionally managed apartment building would do it. This just screams “I can’t afford to live out my TikTok real estate empire dreams”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many people here have absolutely no business being landlords. Apparently you don't understand that it's not free cash. You're responsible for repairing and maintaining the property.

This so much. All these landlords inconvenienced by humans and their needs for safety, dignity, and comfort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up my first 12 years of my life in a rental. My parents lived in that rental for 16 years. In that time they had ZERO repair calls. I do recall we did ask permission to paint apt.Dad would fix a washer or loose toliet seat.

I rented an apartment 6 years as a single person once agin zero calls to landlord.

Both times with parents and me we had below market rents with small time landlords.

But as an adult I did rent from a large building owned by a corporation with a managing agent payinig full market rent and of course I would put a ticket in for repairs if I had to.

But I find some tenants want it both ways. They want to rent from a small overwelmed owner below market and then pay below market rents and then expect service like they are staying in a Marriot Hotel.

Small overwhelmed owners do not offer below market rents
I don’t know who does

Everyone I know does. Yes in day one you pay market rate. But I had a great tenant from 2013 to 2018 never raises rent. My new tenant I only raised once since 2018, this year as they got “needy” started calling in a bunch of stuff and causes me around $3,000 in repair bills. So I raised rent and told them partially to recoup cost. Since then no more calls.

You're a jerk. Asking for you to repair YOUR property isn't needy. Just admit that you're a slum lord.

Charging $300 a month under market I don’t expect to be bothered all the time. I only moved then up $100 a month so they get the hint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up my first 12 years of my life in a rental. My parents lived in that rental for 16 years. In that time they had ZERO repair calls. I do recall we did ask permission to paint apt.Dad would fix a washer or loose toliet seat.

I rented an apartment 6 years as a single person once agin zero calls to landlord.

Both times with parents and me we had below market rents with small time landlords.

But as an adult I did rent from a large building owned by a corporation with a managing agent payinig full market rent and of course I would put a ticket in for repairs if I had to.

But I find some tenants want it both ways. They want to rent from a small overwelmed owner below market and then pay below market rents and then expect service like they are staying in a Marriot Hotel.

Small overwhelmed owners do not offer below market rents
I don’t know who does

Everyone I know does. Yes in day one you pay market rate. But I had a great tenant from 2013 to 2018 never raises rent. My new tenant I only raised once since 2018, this year as they got “needy” started calling in a bunch of stuff and causes me around $3,000 in repair bills. So I raised rent and told them partially to recoup cost. Since then no more calls.

You're a jerk. Asking for you to repair YOUR property isn't needy. Just admit that you're a slum lord.

Charging $300 a month under market I don’t expect to be bothered all the time. I only moved then up $100 a month so they get the hint.

Slumlord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a couple friends who tried being landlords rather than selling their houses, because everyone seems to give the advice that this is the thing to do to get rich, and they stopped after the tenants moved out and then sold the houses. They said it was just too much work with tenants calling about stupid stuff. And every repair person in the DMV seems to charge $200 just to travel to the house then once you factor in the 15-minute fix to the problem, it's at least $350.

Because too many landlord see rent as passive income.

There is no such thing as passive income.