Well, I'm not surprised that the college girl had no batteries in her CO detector when I went over there to do some work. I always check and push the button to make sure they are working.

A few months ago I found 2 smoke detectors off the wall with no batteries in them....oh, they chirp in the night she said...yes, I understand that, but you have to replace the batteries the next day!!!

I wrote her a letter of lease violation for the smoke detectors. She texted me that it would never happen again. They all sign a paper with the lease stating that they are responsible for maintaining the batteries in the detectors. I sent a copy of that paper along with the violation letter.

I plan on sending her another lease violation letter about the CO detector. My question is...should I inform her dad of this? He pays the rent and if anything were to happen, I would want him to know about these violations...even if nothing happens, should he be made aware and talk to her? I don't want to tattle, but this is serious stuff. I don't think she realizes the awful potential of a non working CO detector.

This is a girl that told me that she "literally, does not know how to change a lightbulb"....I kid you not!

Make the lease have this as your tenants sole responsibility after lease signing unless they are defective.

I never have batteries in my alarms when a unit is returned to me. They are there when we sign the lease and it's documented that they work.

NE, it is part of the lease signing. No matter how many papers you sign, ultimately I think the LL would be help responsible in court if the batteries were removed by the tenants.

I've started purchasing the smoke alarms with 10 year lithium batteries. Not only do they last longer but the tenants can't get to the batteries without literally breaking open the alarms (and so far, they've been too lazy to do this).

Since your tenant does not appear to be able to chew gum and tie her shoe laces at the same time (and dad is paying the rent)...and you're already written her one letter of her smoke alarm battery violation, I think you should send a copy of your second letter to her father.

When I do my quarterly maintenance inspection, I carry spare 9 V batteries with me. I buy them in mega packs at Sam's Club for about $1.50 each. As per our lease, the tenant must keep a working battery in a smoke detector at all times, and failure to do so results in me replacing it for them and a bill of $10 per battery. Surprise! All of my tenants tend to have functional smoke detectors after my first visit.

As of now, you have acknowledged a non-working smoke detector in a home you own. What do you think her lawyer will say if she gets injured or dies from a fire?

Sid,

I did replace the batteries myself....is this enabling?! I like your idea of charging the $10 to install the batteries. I have started to carry batteries in my car as well.

This is an important issue. About 6 years ago, one of our tenants daughters heated oil on the stove, then left the house. If it weren't for the 4 year old boy yelling "fire,fire!" to his sleeping mother who knows how the story would've played out.

Ten thousand dollars of damage, but was much better than injury or deaths. The smoke detector batteries had been removed.

Christmas toys, Remotes, etc- The sad part of it is that when the family left there STILL were no batteries in the smoke detectors. They did not learn the lesson.

Jo, I like Sid and Gail's advice. If you do charge for the batteries,don't wait and take it out of their deposit. Charge them now. It's not worth the risk of them not learning the lesson sooner.

On the news, when there is a report of a fire at a house where someone died, the reporter ALWAYS says "....and there were NO batteries in the detector".

After hearing that REPEATEDLY, I added this to my Lease: "When the Landlord comes to the premises for any reason, the Tenant understands that ALL smoke detectors may be checked to make sure the battery is in place and is working properly. IF BATTERIES ARE REMOVED FROM A SMOKE DETECTOR, TENANT UNDERSTANDS THAT THEY WILL BE REPLACED BY THE LANDLORD AND THE TENANT WILL BE FINED $25 PER DETECTOR. "

What Sid and Sally said-------DO NOT wait to take it out of the deposit. Bill her and her father NOW---maybe $25.00 per detector will get the idiots attention.

since that clause was not previously in my lease, I don't believe I can just add it now....or can I?

When it comes to the level of seriousness of this kind of behavior, I don't care what my lease says---I institute the rules and guidelines for my tenants IF they want to continue to be my tenants and I make that very clear.

No judge or jury is going to side with a LL's excuse that "but the tenant took out the batteries" if someone dies in a fire and there were no functioning fire or CO alarms.

You are the LL, they are the tenant. A person cannot possibly think up every possible scenario to add to the lease that will cover any and all tenant behavior. Just when you think you've seen it all they will come up with something new.

As landlords, we have to draw the line somewhere. Unless we are going to camp out in our tenants living rooms, it is impossible for us to know when they remove batteries. My guess is that most are removed soon after they move in. Either for some gadget they brought that has dead batteries or some gadget they just bought for the new apartment.

My lease says the tenant is responsible for weekly testing and semi-annual battery changing. Beyond that, what can I do?

I do like the idea of charging during inspection for missing batteries, but what happens if you miss an inspection and forget to do it, then the responsibility is 100% yours? How do you sign off on inspections to prove that you did them twice a year or whatever?

If it's not in your lease, it is "standard operating procedure." Same as if tenant did something else to endanger / damage / remove your property. I consider disabling of smoke detector THEFT. They STOLE my battery/smoke detector. They will pay to REPLACE my battery/smoke detector. I would love to see them argue in front of a judge they are not responsible for this charge!

NE, you don't have to address it in your lease any other way that what you have. I say nothing in my lease about me being responsible for the smoke detector, other than if it is non-functional the tenant is responsible for reporting it to me so I can replace it. Beyond that, I have no duty to inspect the smoke detectors, but if I choose to do so and find one disabled...ding!

I agree with you, NE. There is a limit to how much we should have to absorb. It's there for their safety and if they are too silly to care about that why should we be held accountable for what we provided in good working order?

But- if you catch it, it's time to attempt to have an expensive teaching moment. It's just sad when you think-- Geez, how much safety are these people willing to blow off for a TV show? Even an actual fire couldn't sway those tenants, and I could bet you $$ that they probably think we should have provided extra batteries for their viewing pleasure...

I do think that a great lease is enough in this instance to prevent a judge from saying it's a ll fault unless there is a reason to believe its gross negligence. THEY removed the batteries, and compromised the device, not the LL.

I dropped off the letter today. I was direct and to the point about her irresponsibility. I haven't heard from her and probably won't, but I hope she takes this to heart.

Charlie, I do too. I sent a copy of that paper along with the lease violation letter. You would think that after the first letter she would not repeat the offense.

I do understand this is some of the kids first time living on their own, and batteries are the last thing they think about. I am actually looking at an open smoke detector right now in my hallway that needs a battery.....yes, I'll get to it, so I understand that thinking.

Just saw a news item where a 3 year old and his dog died in a fire over the weekend in Spokane, WA. No batteries in the smoke detector.

I've seen an apartment where a friend lived that was heavily damaged with smoke, she had removed the batteries in the detector because it was "chirping" and wouldn't stop. Thanks God somebody knew she was there and got her out!

I am with NE on this.

How far do we have to go to make sure our residents don't take the batteries out of the detector. I have a simple clause in my lease that says they are responsible to replace the batteries.

At some point, I stopped trying to live other people's lives.

For the last 20 years I have circumvented any issues with batteries.

I purchase smoke detectors that have the batteries soldered in place.

If the tenant doesn't have fire insurance for their own belongings I don't rent to them, I am a named insured on their policy. And every room that would enable someone to sleep has a 10 year smoke detector that is either wired or has the battery soldered into place during manufacturing.

Don't allow your building to be burned down simply because you wanted to save a few dollars on your smoke detectors.

If you're in the business you need to cover your ass, and your assets.

Your tenants are liability, and it's cheaper to buy good to smoke detectors then to have the fire chief say there were no batteries in the smoke detector, and to have your insurance company denied payment on your building and your liability claim.

Dan

My friend has had two fires and in each case, the battery was out of smoke detector. The insurance company paid the claims. Luckily, no one was hurt in either one.

Here on this board these smoke alarms were listed.

However I've never been able to locate them.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the ten year smokes?

"10 year tamper proof smoke detectors for 11.82 (SKU 0000-768-195)

10 yr tamper proof smoke / CO combo detectors for 33.77 (SKU 0000-776-115)