Egads, over 10 inches of rain, Feb 2017! All time rain record. Which led to an all time record for plugged and overloaded gutters, leaky basements, a sink hole, flat out water just getting everywhere. Our maintenance crews in our property management division working hard to contain it all, and they have really done a great job in hindsight.

This on the backend of the all time record snow fall in mid Jan, 2017, where a good 12 to 15 inches of white goodness fell upon us all, then it got real cold, then every gutter and downspout froze solid as a rock, then it thaws on the roof about a week later, but the ice dams are still there………..and water gets all over the place under roofs, in between cracks and crevices, through roof vent pipes, you name it, it happened. And again, the maintenance teams worked hard, and got us through it mostly unscathed!

But like anything, working hard doesn’t always lead to great results. The derivative of the snow, ice, and rain storm in January, is somehow residents want a rent credit because the roof leaked. As if the landlord called in the snow gods to jam the gutters and then quick thaw the roof, so the roof would leak somehow. I only wish I could call my mortgage holder and ask them for a break on my mortgage payment because my gutters froze…

Ok, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not anti-tenant, far from it for those that know me and talk to me. In fact, tenants are my partners when it comes to the collaboration with owners via property management. But I must be candid here, very few things can get under my skin, however this is just one of those things. Some just think it’s the landlords duty to not only preserve the environment for them, but also that if from a source of “God”, that somehow becomes a rent break.

I know none of them are doing this from an ill-will position, but I also don’t think they quite understand that some things just happen, you deal with it together and move on. Did I mention I wish I could call my mortgage holder and say…

But I do also believe that there is a case though, if a landlord is negligent on a repair or for lack of maintenance, then I do think some repercussions should and could happen for the residents benefit. And akin to the above, nothing gets under my skin any quicker than when I see a property where I know a landlord is complicit in the “ignoring” maintenance modus operandi. But if Mother Nature blows a tree over tonight, and wipes out the roof of the unit a tenant lives in, it isn’t the landlords fault and if you are a smart tenant-resident, you’ll have renters insurance, and that is where your real protection lies!

Click here to read about the importance of maintenance.