So before I start here’s a summary of my lease.

🔴If any repairs are needed or anything breaks tenant needs to contact landlord immediately to prevent further damages.

🔴If toilet over flows or water is leaking tenant must contact landlord immediately to prevent further damages.

🔴no repairs are to be made to property or any alterations without approval from landlord.

🔴nothing other than toilet paper is to be flushed in toilets.

So here we go. My tenant called me with this “the past few days the toilet has been overflowing but I’ve always caught it in time. Except for today. I flushed. Went outside and when I returned the toilet over flowed into a bedroom and down hall. I had to call someone to come shut the water off to the toilet to stop it. And called someone to come clean up the mess. They left dehumidifier and fans to help. No worries I will pay for everything.”

Once I arrived it was way worse. He flooded out three rooms, four closets, the entire hallway too. I got on the phone with the clean up company and apparently the tenant falsified himself as the homeowner when they arrived. The clean up co said the vanities and carpets retained too much water the machines won’t dry them that they have to be removed. Me being the homeowner told them to do it then before mildew grows. Y’all they removed it all and the slab was soaked. Baseboards. Sheetrock. It was a big mess.

Tenant then says he is not paying for me to make a claim. Seeing the extent of damages I see his worry.

Then my plumber comes and pulls wipes out the line. But he can’t get line to run to street there’s something stopping him.

Tenant then admits to flushing them and says he needs to check with his attorney to see if it’s in his best interest to be honest with his insurance.

I then give the tenant a bill of repairs. 3,000 for new carpets and vanities as well as holding him responsible for the bill of the clean up co he hired. (4,000)

Days later My plumber runs video camera down line and finds out that there’s breaks in my line. Not related to the tenant flushing wipes. The plumber stated that toilet paper will cause another backup.

So my theory is this...... had the tenant told me the first time this occurred I could have been had the plumbing inspected and fixed. Also had the tenant phoned me immediately during the flooding (I live two houses down by the way had no clue this was going on) I could have told him or gone over and shut the water valve off to the toilet drastically minimizing the damages inside.

I feel the tenant at the very least is responsible for the 4,000 owed to the co he hired.

I also feel he should be held accountable for half the costs at least for renovations

What do you think.