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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
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    2

    Default Can a Landlord Charge a Tenant for Clearing a Drain

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CALIFORNIA

    Our landlord contracts out with a maintenance company to provide routine maintenance to tenants (free, or as part of the rent I guess).

    We had an issue a few weeks ago with our sink backing up. This has actually been a common problem with however the plumbing is connected to the unit above or next to us. We've had issues where we hear one of them turn their garbage disposal on, and then our sink backs up. Just weird stuff.

    This particular issue was totally random as far as I can tell - we were sitting there watching TV and all of the sudden the sink just completely backs up and begins overflowing. After draining the sink, it would immediately fill with water as soon as we turned on the sink. It was clearly clogged.

    So I tell the landlord, maintenance comes and fixes it. Today I get a note on my door that I owe the landlord $100 because the problem was "caused my tenant neglect, which makes you responsible..." There is an attached note from the maintenance company that says the cause of the stoppage was grease and food removal (what else would you expect to find in sink pipes?) and that they had to run various feet of the snake to be able to unclog it.

    This seems ridiculous to me. We've had maintenance done quite a bit here and never been charged for it. I don't really see how this is an issue we could have prevented or caused. This wasn't some gradual thing that we ignored. We were not having any problems with the sink until randomly one day it just went completely haywire.

    Do I have any recourse to not have to pay this ridiculous charge?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: Landlord Charging Us for Sink Maintenance

    I would not necessarily say that it is ridiculous. Did you bother to remove the trap under the sink and ascertain if it was clogged or did you just say tough let him deal with it? Grease and food are not normal things to put into a drain in a natural state.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Landlord Charging Us for Sink Maintenance

    We don't exactly make it a habit of pouring food and grease down the sink. Whatever food that goes into the sink is probably just tiny scraps off the plate when washing it off, and then we use the garbage disposal.

    I didn't do any inspection of my own. Not in a "tough let him deal with it" way, but because I don't own this property, I'm renting, so I'm not going to go taking anything apart or doing any inspection of my own when there's a crew hired specifically to do that.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Landlord Charging Us for Sink Maintenance

    As you were told in another legal forum, the fact that you expect food and grease to be found in sink pipes is a clear indication that you're putting more than "tiny scraps" of food off the plate.

    Garbage disposals are dangerous items in the hands of some tenants. They assume they can grind up anything akin to a tree limb.

    Gail

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Landlord Charging Us for Sink Maintenance

    Without looking at the plumbing in the building, or seeing how far the snake was run down the drain before it hit the blockage, it's not possible to comment on whether it's possible that the blockage occurred in a drain stack shared with your neighbor's unit, or to confirm that the drain stack is shared. If the blockage occurred prior to the drain stack, that's due to your use of the drain. If it occurred within the drain stack and the drain stack is shared with one or more other units, then it's not reasonable to assume that your actions caused the blockage. Your description of past problems suggests the possibility of a blockage in the drain stack, below the point at which your sink connects to the stack, but if we assume that such a blockage existed and that was cleared as a result of past maintenance calls it would be highly unlikely that it re-established itself that quickly.

    The age of the plumbing, the material used, and the type of drain trap can factor into whether a blockage in the drain is a result of the passage of time or the design of the drain, or if it's from the tenant's putting inappropriate materials down the drain. If the maintenance company has previously cleared the drain due to its service of what you describe as a "common problem", it's more likely that the blockage was caused by what you put down the drain than would be the case if we're talking about a drain that has not been snaked out for many years with the last service significantly predating your tenancy. It's not possible to analyze what happened without more facts.
    Quote Quoting SeanP2L
    View Post
    We had an issue a few weeks ago with our sink backing up. This has actually been a common problem with however the plumbing is connected to the unit above or next to us. We've had issues where we hear one of them turn their garbage disposal on, and then our sink backs up. Just weird stuff....

    We were not having any problems with the sink until randomly one day it just went completely haywire.
    Ether you had common problems and a history of "weird stuff", or you had no problems until the "one day" the sink "just went completely haywire."

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