Tenants Want Floors Repaired
I have tenants in a RS apt that are complaining that the floorboards move a little bit and sometimes catch their on their socks. I have the same issue in my apt but figured it is just part of having 100 year old pine tongue and groove as flooring. Any tips for fixing squeeky floorboards?…
I have tenants in a RS apt that are complaining that the floorboards move a little bit and sometimes catch their on their socks. I have the same issue in my apt but figured it is just part of having 100 year old pine tongue and groove as flooring. Any tips for fixing squeeky floorboards? Am I required to make the floor perfect? I would like to fix it for them, but short of screwing the floor down or taking it all up I am not sure how to do it.
I’ve had a couple bitter rent stabbers makes similar complaints over the years.
Tell them to throw down a carpet. If they keep complaining, go to Home Depot and pick up the cheapest peal & stick tiles you can find.
These folks are bottom feeders. Beware the jabberwock. . .
LL/tenant is a business relationship and the starting point is the lease (in addition to complying with the law). If the tenant paying $1000 that I want to be happy and keep paying that rent has a request for a repair, I’m likely to take care of it. If another tenant paying $500 (in an apartment where if the tenant left I could get $600 for in a vacancy lease, or I could spend $16k in improvements and rent it for a grand) complains about squeaky floorboards and makes a demand to have something fixed that’s not in our agreement, I’d be inclined to say sorry, put some rugs down.
As I said, this repair isn’t something I would do in my own apt. I like to think I live in a very “habitable” apt despite a few holy socks. If they were paying market rent I would be asking the same question. If they were paying market I might not be losing money every month, so I suppose I would consider it. Not bitter about it, just trying to figure out the right thing to do.
I live in an old house too, but it is safe to walk in socks. Seems to me you would want to have a looksie to determine whether or not there is a more serious structural issue. Maybe you should screw the floor boards down.
I think there could be another website started all with the concerns of RS?RC landlords and tenants, since it often seems like the surface question is not really what is going on. If this weren’t a RS tenant I imagine you wouldn’t think twice about resolving the concern because 1. you want to keep your tenant happy and 2. you want to keep your property in good condition. So often in these questions I hear (perhaps unfairly) ” do I really have to be bothered – they aren’t paying “fair” market rent, so what do they expect, a habitable apartment?” and “do you think I can get away with this and thus drive them out of the apartment?” Maybe unfair to this poster, but I do see more and more of these kinds of questions on the forum – perhaps not unexpectedly given the financial times?
All good points I think. If it was my apartment I wouldn’t have it repaired, and my floors are like this in my place. I want them to be happy, but this seems to go beyond the reasonable. If there was a semi-inexpensive way to fix this I would for sure.
Also add to the lease that the tenants are not to make runauthorized repairs of any sort within the apartment.
As per denton’s post.
By all means, if the floors need repairing, have a look at them but I suspect this is just a minor issue.
that said, if they are above you, it’s better having them in socks than in shoes making a lot of noise just to spite you.
While philosophically I agree w sf and bk, if this is an old floor that you care about, maybe you’d be better off fixing it professionally. Cuz if you don’t, instead of moving out, tenant may decide to do their own DIY fix with a screw gun and a mess of screws. Would you prefer that?
I use a standard rent stabilized lease from RSA that says “Owner warrants that the apartment and building are fit for habitation”. Law requires the landlord to keep the apartment in good repair and to provide essential services. Not saying you shouldn’t fix a problem if you want to, but I don’t think anything in the law or a typical lease that would require the owner to fix floors to stop them from squeaking or sometimes catching socks. You could suggest the tenant put down some rugs.
RS tenant? Paying a fraction of the market rent?
I would ignore them. If they report you to the DOB and it turns out to be a violation (and I don’t know that it is) then you’ll have to fix it.
Until then, just tell them that’s the way the floor is. If they don’t like it, no one is forcing them to stay.